


Innocent Monsters

by CrawlingInMyChaos



Category: Doki Doki Literature Club! (Visual Novel)
Genre: Gen, I guess you could count this as an AU since some things just wouldn't work otherwise, Implied/Referenced Character Death, Implied/Referenced Child Abuse, Implied/Referenced Self-Harm, Mild Language, Minor Body Horror, POV First Person, Things get weird really quickly, Usual meta DDLC stuff comes into play but it's not everywhere, Weird Biology
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-02-27
Updated: 2018-03-13
Packaged: 2019-03-24 18:12:22
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 27
Words: 45,388
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13816680
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/CrawlingInMyChaos/pseuds/CrawlingInMyChaos
Summary: One seemingly normal day, Yuri and Natsuki are faced with a peculiar problem - a very literal loss of their humanity. Fortunately for them, the newest member of the literature club and the club president herself are there to help them, but will that be enough to let them hold on to the last scraps of humanity left in their minds? After all, it's just a plaything of the body...(AU?)





	1. And so it begins...

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I obviously do not own DDLC (Team Salvato does). The general idea and some of the scenes for this fic is not mine, but I cannot give credits to anyone as it was taken from an anonymous board with permission. The original story was much shorter due to its format and unfinished state (it was around 2.5K when it stopped), but I have other plans for how it's going to be, so, there's no need to know the...um, source to understand it.
> 
> To clear some things up, the protagonist is referred to as Kazuki and this story takes place during Act 2, but at the same time, it's not exactly Act 2. You could call it a bizarre AU of some sort. This also means that Sayori will not appear, but it's for the best as she...wouldn't last for very long. There's some minor body horror, but it's not going to be used often. Yeah, you're in that weird part of the internet again.
> 
> This chapter might be a rough start, but things should get more lively and less descriptive after that.

 

Another day in my life passes by, totally unremarkable and uneventful as usual. The literature club I've joined a few days ago does little to help, but it's an improvement nonetheless. Spending time with 3 cute girls certainly beats being alone at home with nothing to do but prepare for the next day and waste time reading manga and playing video games.

As I try to grasp the meaning of words on the pages of the book Yuri gave me, I decide to take a look at the other members of the club. As I've expected, they are in their usual spots performing their daily activities. Yuri is sitting at her desk, completely absorbed in her copy of the book. I'm not a big fan of the horror genre, so, I can't say I really understand what makes the genre so attractive to her. Regardless of my preferences, I admire the enthusiasm she reads these stories with. It is hard to miss even for someone who has yet to truly get to know her. You can't deny that it's one of her most attractive traits even if it's not quite as obvious as her...er...long purple hair. It's no wonder she fiddles with it when she's nervous.

I look around the classroom in search for Natsuki and find her in the closet, surrounded by shelves lined with dusty books and boxes. It looks like she's reading her manga. I would like to take a look at her collection at some point in the future, but I still haven't finished reading the volume of Parfait Girls she gave me. Knowing a cute girl with whom you share interests is a man's dream and her attitude certainly makes time spent with her worth it. Something tells me she packs a mean punch despite her stature. I wouldn't want to be on the receiving end of it. I'd much rather have a taste of her cupcakes. I wonder if she could bake some soon? The last batch was very good. I wish we could have fresh cupcakes every day, but it could lose its meaning if done so often. Maybe leaving it for the special occasions is a better idea.

As soon as Natsuki makes eye contact with me, I look away to find Monika. I haven't paid much attention to her, but I don't think she is the type of person who would space out in the middle of the day. It's as if she's not here at all. What could be on her mind? Could she have something to worry about? A girl as popular as her probably has more than enough things to keep track of aside from this club. It could be something personal for all I know. But before I can think more about it, she suddenly stands up. The horrible sound of metal scraping against the floor draws everyone's attention. She winces noticeably.

"...Okay, everyone! While this is usually the time when we exchange poems, I'm afraid I have some matters to which I must attend. But don't worry, I'll be back in 10 minutes!" - she says hastily.

She leaves the classroom before anyone can say anything, but I doubt anyone has any objections. After all, She is the club president.

"What was that all about?" - asks Natsuki.

"I assume it's something unrelated to our club. Let's just...not think about it. She's not going to be away for long...I think." - says Yuri.

I simply shrug and we go back to whatever we were doing before...or at least Yuri and Natsuki do so while I sit at my desk and pretend to read my book. With nothing better to do, I decide to watch others read. It's quite peaceful. While it's not something I could do for long periods of time, it's still oddly pleasant. Only the sound of rustling paper and scratching breaks the silence...wait, scratching? As I observe them, I notice that something isn't right. They look...sick? I can clearly see the discomfort on their faces and it's getting worse with every passing minute. It might be the lighting, but they look unnaturally pale as well.

"Are you alright?" - I ask, my voice laden with concern. "You don't look well."

"Y-yeah...I'm...I'm alright! Just a little...tired...yes, it shouldn't concern you." - Yuri replies with a hoarse voice. Yeah, as if anyone is going to believe her. I've seen how she keeps reading the same lines over and over. Her book isn't even open anymore. Natsuki isn't faring much better.

"Are you really sure about it? I-"

"YES! Yes...I'm fine...I'm fine...Please don't mind me!" - Yuri interrupts me. Now what was that all about? Well, anyway, I still haven't heard Natsuki say anyt-

My eyes are drawn towards the closet when I hear something hit the floor. I see Natsuki curled up on the floor, clutching at her head and gritting her teeth. It looks like she's trying to tough it out, but it's not working well. Various objects which were previously on the shelves are now littering the floor.

"Natsuki!"

I get up to try to help her, but I stop when she starts rapidly convulsing. The sight of long insect limbs bursting out of Natsuki's back freezes me in place. I can't help but stare at these things thrashing around and tearing apart whatever is unlucky to get in their way. I don't know how to help Natsuki without losing any body parts and so I simply stare. I can barely resist the urge to vomit when I see Natsuki's skin come off, exposing muscles and bones in places not hidden by her clothes.

I'm not sure if I should be grateful for it, but an inhuman growl diverts my attention. It turns out to be coming from...Yuri?! The expression on her face is frightening. Blood trickles from between her sharp teeth as her long claws dig into the desk. The growl grows into a roar loud enough to daze me when large wings burst out of her back. The sound of cracking bones is almost as deafening as the roar. The blades on each finger appear to be sharp enough to rend flesh and so I do not come any closer to her either.

I feel completely helpless. What is going on? This looks like something straight out of a bizarre nightmare! Where is Monika anyway? It's been 30 minutes since she left. Could she even handle this situation? There's no way a sane person could be prepared for this! It shouldn't even be possible! Even with my limited knowledge of biology and physics, I know that this can't just happen to random schoolgirls in the middle of the day!

I look at the closet again and I'm relieved to see that Natsuki's skin is back...until I see that what seems to be the vaporizing remains of it near her. Upon taking a closer look at her skin, I notice that it's...off. It's too sleek and there is not a single imperfection on it. Her hands and feet don't even look like they are covered with skin. Her segmented fingers and toes look just as sharp as the limbs attached to her back. Something starts poking out from the back of her skirt, but my attention is drawn to her eyes. It looks like they are made of thousands of eyes of different colors meant to simply mimic human eyes. Even if they are capable of imitating movement, it's still unsettling and so I look at what seemed like loose strands of hair, but now I see that they are...antennae?

Once again I am distracted when several desks are knocked over by a long tail. Several gouges are visible on the floor near Yuri, apparently left by the sharp blade at the end of her new tail. Her almost white skin is completely covered with barely noticeable scales. As I look at her, two purple reptilian eyes look back at me, making me jump a little. I look a bit higher above them and spot two long horns on her head. It looks like there is some kind of an intricate pattern on them, but I can't make it out due to their dark color. They are even darker than her hair.

Finally, after minutes of pure madness, everything settles and only the sound of sharp intakes of air break up the silence. Even if they have calmed down and there are no extra appendages trashing about to slice me into pieces, I still don't have the courage to approach Natsuki or Yuri. What am I even supposed to do after whatever just happened? Can I even comfort them?

Before I can come up with something, the door to the classroom suddenly opens, revealing Monika standing in the doorway. Her eyes wander from the girls to the mess they've caused mere minutes ago. The look of confusion on her face is quickly replaced with horror once she looks at me. Just as quickly, her body tenses up.

"Get away from those monsters!" - she yells, running towards me.

"Wh-What are you talking about?" - I ask, still in the same spot I've stood in this whole time.

"Don't you just stand there! Can't you see it?!" - she yells in response, trying to drag me away to no avail.

"All I see is Yuri and Natsuki! Just...just calm down and listen to me!" - I try to persuade her. It works and I heave a sigh of relief when she finally stops pulling my arm, but then I realize that I can't actually explain what just happened. It's not really something you see every day outside of fiction.

Uh...looks like this is going to be a long day...


	2. The itsy-bitsy spider

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A little perspective change.

In...and out...In...and out...In...and out...The pain...It's finally gone...I've never felt anything like this before...I try to get up from the floor and...something...is not right...My vision is still clearing up, but I can already tell that everything is just...Off. Even breathing doesn't feel right. With some effort, I sit up and take a deep breath. Uh, this headache certainly doesn't h-

"WHAT THE FUCK?!" - I yell, startled by the sight of a clawed hand with long segmented fingers. Refusing to believe that this...this thing belongs to me, I move my fingers and guess what? They move the way I want them to! I put my other hand in front of my face and it matches! As if that wasn't enough, I look down and see my legs. They aren't much better. I don't even care about my ruined clothes.

Wait, should I even care about any of this? It's not like any of this is real. This is nothing but a nightmare. I don't remember falling asleep, but I could have passed out again. Yeah, it's just a stupid little nightmare. All I have to do is wake up and I'll be back in the literature club...or my sorry excuse for a bed. Either way, I'm just one little pinch away from normalcy. Let me just roll up a sleeve aaaaaaaaand it doesn't work. No matter how many times I try to repeat it, it still doesn't work, but it can't be real either! It...it just can't be! Yeah, maybe I'm just seeing things! It wouldn't be the first time. I should just ask others, completely ignoring whatever the fuck is going on with Yuri. There are no wings or a tail protruding from her body. Wait, was Kazuki standing so close to me this whole time?

"Natsuki? Are you alright?" - he asks.

I back away to put some distance between us, doing my best to ignore what feels like extra limbs helping me move faster.

"Yeah, sure, just tripping out...or at least I think I am." - I reply. My mouth feels kinda weird, but it's nothing to be worried about.

"...Tripping out?" - he repeats. Yeah, maybe that wasn't the best way to phrase it, but I'm not in the best state of mind if I can clearly see Yuri knock over a desk with her tail. As usual, she apologizes.

"Oh, looks like she's in denial or something..." - says Monika. Looks like she finally came back. Ten minutes m-

"W-Wait, denial? I-I'm not denying anything!" - I reply without a single doubt in my mind.

"Yeah, you totally don't have spider legs growing out of your back or a spider's abdomen sticking out of your skirt." - she says, sarcasm very clear in her voice. I look back just to humor her and, just as I thought, she's wrong. Well, the spider legs are there and there's something weird on my rear, but there's no abdomen!

"Oh, in case you don't know, spider's abdomen is that large bulbous part on their rear." - she says before I can point out her mistake...or what I thought was a mistake. That describes the...thing very well.

"So...let me get this straight: I've just had the most painful hour-"

"Minutes." - Kazuki interrupts me.

"...The most painful minutes of my life and now I'm some kind of a human spider thing with absolutely no way to explain how the hell it happened? - I correct myself and finish my line of thought.

"That's pretty much it, but I'm not quite sure about the spider part." - says Monika.

"What do you mean by that?" - I ask in response.

"Well, you see, spiders are not supposed to have antennae or thousands of eyes." - she replies.

"...what?"

Suddenly, she reaches out for loose strands of my hair and I feel a twinge of pain as she yanks them.

"This is what I'm talking about." - she says before releasing them. Oddly enough, they keep their form and...start moving?

Wait wait wait wait...if they can see this and I can feel it...

"No...no..."

This...this really is happening, isn't it? There's no way to deny it now. Whatever the cause is, now I'm a fucking freak of nature and I really doubt anything can be done about that. Can I even go outside like this, let alone go home? What will HE do when he sees me like this? I can already picture it in my mind: my father beating me to a bloody pulp with a newspaper and throwing whatever is left out of a window like it's nothing unusual. It's almost funny to think about. Not that it would be much different from what happens when he doesn't ignore me.

"Is she...crying?" - Kazuki points out oh-so-helpfully. Can I even do it at this point? I don't feel anything wet on my face. My eyes don't even sting. Maybe I should just-

No. This isn't right. I've been through worse. This is nothing. Weird? Sure. But it's not the end of the world or anything. Maybe it will end up being a fun ride. Maybe not. Whatever happens, I'm sure I'll have an interesting story to tell later.

"No...I'm fine, just a little surprised and all." - I say with a little less certainty than I'd like.

"Well, I'm glad to hear that" - says Monika. "But I think we should discuss something...more important. We still have to do something about these two."

I almost forgot about Yuri. Now that I look at her, she's...not much better. Speaking of her...

"W-Well, I think we can rule out going outside for now. I don't think I'd want to see them be taken away by some secret organization." - Kazuki replies, saying something that would sound silly under normal circumstances, but "normal" no longer applies here.

"Maybe we should wait until everyone leaves and then go home?" - Yuri suggests and her voice sounds...off, but that's not what bothers me the most.

"But I...I can't go home!"

"Huh? Why not?" - asks Kazuki.

"I don't think this is something we should ask her about...but I know what we should do." - says Monika with a smile.

"What do you mean?" - I ask. Something tells me I'm not going to like her idea.

"Well, isn't it obvious? You can't stay here, but you don't want to go home either, so, you have nowhere to go...unless SOMEONE lets you stay in his house."

Confused, Kazuki points at Monika, but she only shakes her head. Then he points at himself and she nods...oh...

"W-W-What kind of suggestion is that?!" I yell indignantly. The other two seem to be against this idea, but Monika's smile doesn't even falter.

"Um, well, I guess I COULD afford that, but...can't you do it? It would probably be less awkward and...and..." - Kazuki's protests die out as Monika suddenly leans forward, decreasing the distance between them in less than a second.

"I'm sorry, but I'm too busy as it is. I'm not going to leave you alone to deal with them, but I'll have to find another way to help you."

I-I suppose that makes sense, but...really?

"Oh, and Yuri? You'll have to join Natsuki."

"Wha-Why sh-I have my o-I mean I-Shouldn't y-" - Yuri tries to reply and fails to form anything coherent. I'm not so sure about this plan either.

"I mean...wouldn't it be a good idea to have them both close to you in case something happens?" - adds Monika. It sounds reasonable, but Kazuki of all people? N-not that he's a bad person or there's anything wrong with him trying to help us, but...

"I suppose that makes sense? I'd gladly help them either way, but that does sound like a good idea. I can't be sure about anything anymore." - says Kazuki.

"Okay then! With that out-of-the-way, I think it's time for me to leave. I am not looking forward to trying to explain what caused this mess, but I'm sure I'll have it all figured out. See you tomorrow!" - says Monika before leaving the classroom. Unfortunately, it's still too early for us to leave. We still have a few hours left before we can safely leave this place. Well, time sure does fly past pretty quickly when you have something good to read, so, why not go back to where I was before...um, this happened? Apparently Kazuki and Yuri have the same idea as they are back at their desks with their identical books. I think I was reading the Mundane Activities? I need to take a look at it just to be sure.

I sit down, adjusting my posture with my new body in mind and look through the torn paper and chunks of wood on the floor in search o-

Is this...

It...

What the hell...? What the hell?! Is this a nightmare? It...has to be. This isn't real. There's no way this can be real. The manga collection I've built up throughout all these years...It's gone forever now, torn to pieces by my own hands. Nothing I do can bring it back. The shreds I hold in my hands can never be stitched back together. I can never read it again. Never. Never. Never. Never. Never...


	3. Isn't that just awkward?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Kazuki's POV again.

...What did I get myself into?

It's been a while since Monika left me with these two to take care of, but I still don't know what I'm going to do about them. I have to give them a shelter, but I can't even imagine what it's going to be like. I'm sure many would be happy to have 2 cute girls live with them, but it still sounds awkward and that's without getting into their...problem. It will probably make things even harder for all 4 of us.

I can already see Yuri struggle with reading her book. Her posture is even worse now. These classrooms were not built with long tails in mind and so she can't sit without her tail getting into an awkward position. I've seen her curl it around herself, put it on her lap, sit on it, try sitting sideways, but so far, none of them worked well. Surprisingly, her wings don't get in the way. I wonder if they could be used as some sort of a makeshift blanket...

Natsuki doesn't fare much better. While not everything was destroyed during her transformation, she still couldn't read whatever was left without the risk of damaging it. It took me some time to convince her, but she agreed to have me flip the pages for her. Neither of us expected that plot twist. I'll never trust a cat ever again. Aside from that, there is something I've noticed while reading with her. Her antennae went rigid when we reached that page and they were drooping earlier. I don't think they are supposed to be like that, but it looks cute nonetheless.

Anyway, I think it's time for us to leave. It's already dark enough for their glowing eyes to be the only sources of light in the classroom. I open the door...or at least I try to, but it doesn't budge. Looks like Monika closed it out of habit. Great.

"Um, guys? The door is locked." - I announce.

"What? What do you mean it's locked?! Freaking Monika..." - comes Natsuki's reply.

...I've got an idea. I slowly approach Natsuki and grab her by her shoulders.

"Eh?"

"I want you..." Wait, what's the proper term for it? Was it-

I don't have the time to finish that line of thought when Natsuki's mouth suddenly splits into five parts and she screeches loudly. However, that's nothing in comparison to the punch that comes after it. It's even worse than I thought. As I try to get up from the floor, I see Natsuki glare at me.

"W-W-What the hell was that?!" - she yells at me. Thinking about it, that was pretty dumb.

"Ah...Sorry about that, but it's not what I was trying to say. You see, we can't just break the door and this isn't the ground floor, so, we can't just jump out of a window. I've heard that spider silk is surprisingly durable and so I wanted to ask you to produce some...if you can do that."

"Do you really think I know how to do it?" - she asks and she does have a point.

"...Maybe we could try squeezing it out?"

"What? NO!"

"We don't have much of a choice!" - I say as I grab her waist...and it's much thinner than I thought. Too thin.

"G-Get your hands off me!" - she yells as she quickly breaks out of my grasps and literally crawls up a wall. To make things even more confusing, her spider abdomen unfolds into a scorpion tail. I'm pretty sure I've seen that in some PS2 game.

"Natsu-"

"No, I'm not doing that! Are you even sure I can do that?" - she interrupts me.

"Um...no, but we have to try some-"

"Can you shut the fuck up for a moment and let me think?" - Yuri yells, emphasizing your point by slamming her fist on her desk, breaking it by doing so. A stunned silence follows.

"I-I'm sorry, I meant that...um...I have a better idea" - she says meekly. Neither I nor Natsuki say anything.

"Um...let me just..." - Yuri mutters before opening a window...and jumping out of it. We quickly approach the window and look outside to see her on the ground.

"Don't worry! I'm fine! All you have to do is jump and I'll catch you!" - she says. It's not a bad idea...is it?

I don't have much time to think about it before Natsuki pushes me and I stumble out of the window. I brace for the impact, but it doesn't come. When I open my eyes, I'm met with Yuri's glowing eyes and it's even worse at this distance. I ask her to put me down and she drops me without a warning.

"Ah! Sorry! I..."

"It's ok...it's ok" - I lie. It really hurts. I look up to see Natsuki looking out of the window with a smile on her face.

"What was that for?" - I yell at her.

"Do you really have to ask?" - she replies.

"Yes I do when y-" - a low growl interrupts me. I know where it's coming from and so does Natsuki. She jumps out of the window and Yuri catches her. This time, she puts her down without issu-

"WHAT THE HELL?!" - Natsuki suddenly shouts. "Since when were you this tall?"

"I...um..." - Yuri tries to say something, but she can't come up with anything. Her face regains some of the color it had, but she still looks unnaturally pale.

"Why do YOU grow two feet taller when you're already the tallest one in the club while I stay the same height?!" - she yells at Yuri and wait, two feet? I take a look at Yuri and she really does look taller. I have to look up now. Looks like I didn't pay enough attention to notice this change. In hindsight, it should have been easier to notice. Her sleeves look too short and her skirt is-

"Can we leave this for later?" - I suggest.

"...Fine" - Natsuki says, storming off into a random direction.

"My house is not that way..." - I say, making her stop.

"Then lead the way, Columbus." - comes her reply. I can see why she is upset.

With a sigh, I start walking to our destination. I've never done it this late, but it shouldn't be any different from any other day.

* * *

Finally, my house is within sight. Yuri and Natsuki haven't said anything and it looks like the latter's mood hasn't improved much.

"Here we are." - I announce, pulling out my door keys.

"Not too shabby." - says Natsuki.

I unlock the door and turn on the lights. Fortunately, I've cleaned everything recently and so I don't have to embarrass myself any more than I already did. I would tell them where to put their shoes, but they don't have any at the moment. I go to the kitchen without a word.

I'm dead tired, but the girls must be hungry. and so I can't leave them hanging. Unfortunately, due to my lifestyle, the best I can offer right now is a bag of chips. I'll need to get something better than that tomorrow. I take two bags of chips with me and go back to the girls only to see Yuri alone. I can't find Natsuki anywhere.

"Um...you're hungry, aren't you? I know this isn't exactly healthy, bu-"

Suddenly, she tears the food out of my grasp and almost shoves it into her mouth without bothering to open either bag. I can barely see her pupils. She looks happy by the time it's gone and only crumbs on her face are left. I don't say anything when she starts licking it off with her incredibly long tongue. There's just...nothing to say. Not after everything that happened today. Fortunately, when her eyes meet mine, she stops and tries to hide herself with her wings, obviously embarrassed by what just happened.

"I didn't see anything. Nothing at all. I'm just tired. I'm seeing things." - I say before going to my bedroom. I can almost hear the sound of a whistling teapot.

I enter my bedroom and I flop down on my bed, losing myself to the sheer softness of it. I'll think about this whole thing tomorrow. No need to overexert myself. It won't do anyone any good. I still have school to worry about. I drift off to sleep as if none of this matters.

* * *

_It's toying with me._

_It wants to see me suffer._

_It watches me struggle with a smile._

_Scraping it's claws against metal and giggling._

_There is no escape from it and yet I don't stop running._

_I don't know where it is unless it wants me to know its coming._

_The moon shines above, but it's nothing compared to the burning gaze of its eyes._

_I trip._


	4. Flight of a dragon

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Yuri's POV.

Bathing.

A surprisingly effective method to gather one's thoughts. Exactly what I need after what happened today.

Once I lower myself into hot water, I decide to examine myself.

The scars are gone without a trace. Not a single reminder of the restless nights spent with such deadly tools. Absolutely nothing to tarnish the deathly pale skin on my arms. Unfortunately, it means nothing when I can't even go outside. No matter how well I could disguise myself, there is no way for my new height to remain unnoticed. My voice would give away my inhuman nature as well. I can't tell what exactly is wrong about it, but I simply can't recognize it as something that belongs to a human.

I raise my tail above the water. The motion is surprisingly natural to me. It's not any different from bending my spine. I can't see where it starts, but the scales here are dark purple rather than white. It's rather unremarkable aside from the blade on its tip, which is big in comparison.

I raise my leg and wiggle my toes. There's nothing human about it. 3 long clawed toes on the front and one on the heel of my foot. They don't appear to be capable of grasping anything like birds do, but at the very least I'm not forced to walk on my toes. Moving my gaze up my leg, I see no other changes aside from the scales that cover my skin. I see no reason to examine my other leg and so I lower it into the water.

I put my hand on my ribs. I can quite easily trace them, something I couldn't have done before. It feels like there's nothing but scaly skin and bones here. If not for...uh...everything else, I would appear to be poorly fed. As I move my hand closer to my back, I feel the strong muscles of my wings. Just like my tail, they are covered with dark purple scales, but their membranes are much lighter. I still haven't tried flying and that is something I plan on fixing tonight. I try not to move them too much in order to avoid leaving scratches on the bathtub or damaging anything else. The blades on their fingers are just as sharp as my claws and judging by the marks left on my desk, it would be better to keep it all under strict control.

I reach out for my horns and grasp them tightly. They are curved slightly inward and their points are surprisingly dull. I've expected them to be much sharper, but I'm glad that I was wrong. I can imagine how troublesome it would be. Even putting on a shirt would take more effort than needed.

I put a finger in my mouth with minor difficulties. It looks like my fangs have grown much longer while the rest of my teeth became much sharper and much less varied in shape. I'm not sure if I can chew anything with these, but I don't have to look in a mirror to know that my smile is not going to look friendly with these.

Finally, I decide to find out the maximum length of my tongue. I slowly stick it out of my mouth and try to touch my forehead with it. I succeed and it's...disgusting. What's the point of it? It's not sticky and I doubt that it's used to clean something.

With that done and over with, I focus my attention elsewhere. The results are not pleasant.

The hunger does not subside. Even after...that happened, it's still not sated.

My heart does not beat. It's been dead silent since afternoon.

My lungs expand and deflate in vain as I no longer have any need to breathe.

None of this makes any sense, but somehow I don't feel the need to panic. On the contrary, this is quite interesting.

...

I think it's time to do it. I let the water drain and step out of the bathtub.

* * *

 

The moon shines brightly in the night sky, illuminating my pale skin. Standing on the roof, I take a deep breath. It's too late for anyone to be outside, granting me an opportunity to take off into the skies above with no risk of getting spotted. With that goal in mind, I spread out my wings. It might take several tries, but I am confident in myself. It doesn't sound too difficult. I have more than enough time to accomplish this self-imposed task. I make up my mind and jump off the roof. Just as I start descending, I flap my wings. I keel flapping my wings whenever I start losing altitude. Despite doing it for the first time, I feel like I've done it countless times before. Every flap of wings is more refined than the previous one and with each flap, I lose less energy and produce less sound until none comes.

The feeling of flight is exhilarating! I've never felt this good before! I can't help but laugh when I think about this situation. Thousands dream of unassisted flight and here I am, given this chance for reasons unknown to me. This is something I've been missing out my whole life and I am giddy with excitement! I must show this to others!

...while I'm at it, I should head home and take whatever I want with me. I can't walk around in these torn clothes and there are several books I'd like to read. Thanks to my improved eyesight, I can see my house from up here and accurately gauge the distance. It shouldn't take more than five minutes to reach it. With these wings, I could travel wherever I want and reach my destination faster than any c-

I spot someone. She can't see or hear me. Before I realize it, I dive towards her and land inches away from her. She jumps in surprise. **Just look at her. So weak. So frail. I could snap her like a twig and nothing of value would be lost.**

"W-Who are you?!" - she asks. She doesn't look old enough to be walking at night with no one to accompany her.

**"Children should be sleeping now." - I say as I grab her by her shoulders. She's so warm...**

"I-I've lost track of time and..." - she replies with absolutely no confidence in her voice.  **The expression on her face when she sees my wings is priceless.**  Now that she's aware of my inhuman nature, she can't stop shaking.  **Just as it should be.**

 **"Excuses...excuses...You know what could happen to you with absolutely no one around to help you, don't you?" - I ask her.**  It's not safe so late at night.

"I-I-I-" -  **she stutters in fright. I can't blame her. A mere human in my presence should-**

No, this isn't right! I...I shouldn't be doing this! I take off into the skies once again, doing my best to ignore the  **sweet scent of a living human, so, full of-**

* * *

 

When I open the door to Kazuki's house, I see Natsuki standing in the doorway. She looks upset.

"So...you want to tell me something?" - she asks, glaring at me.

"...I...um...I've brought my belongings." - I reply. It doesn't look like she believes I'm telling her everything.

"Look, if it's about that little hobby of yours, I'm not going to tell anyone" - she says and...she knows about it, doesn't she?

"...Yes and I'm not proud of it." - I decide to go with what she thought happened to avoid more questions.

"Well, I'm glad to hear that. I'd be much happier if you dropped that shit altogether, but hey, that's something." - she smiles, baring her fangs.

"Now then, could you help me with these?" - I ask, showing her everything I've brought with me.

"Sure." - she agrees, taking everything I offered her.

As I enter his house, I look at the clock. It took me longer than I've expected, but I'm not going anywhere tomorrow and I still don't feel the need to sleep despite feeling drowsy last afternoon. With nothing better to do, I take a book and my spare clothes with me. I'll need to make some modifications if I want to wear these. My tail blade should be enough to accomplish this task, but it wouldn't be as precise as using tools made for this. It doesn't take me long to locate everything I need to make adjustments and it's done in no time at all. It's still a little bit too short, but it's good enough.

With my previous attempts at finding the best sitting posture in mind, I don't bother looking for chairs and sit on the floor. With my tail curled around me and my wings folded to cover my body, I open the book in my hands. I must make sure not to accidentally damage it, but it's a small price to pay for the worlds these books offer me. Nothing could replace that.

I say nothing when Natsuki enters the room, but I'm surprised when she sits down next to me.

"So...what are you reading?" - she asks. Why would she be interested in my literature?

"Well, it's called The Russian Sleep Experiment. It's about a facility where five people are kept awake using an experimental gas-based stimulant, but then-"

"No no no no no! Stop right here!" - she interrupts me.

"Eh...why?" - I ask.

"You're spoiling everything again and...W-Well, you see...I sort of don't have anything to do and I'm not quite ready to go to bed just yet, so, I wanted you to...you know..." - she replies. I'm not sure I understand what she means by that.

"And that is?"

"...um...you see, I can't really read anything with these things, so..." - she says, waving her hands in front of my face for emphasis.

"So?"

"...could you read me something?"

Ah. That's new. Well, I don't see a reason to deny her that.

"...just don't tell anyone about this." - Natsuki adds.

"Alright then." - I say, unfolding one of my wings. She understands what I'm trying to do and scuttles close enough for me to drape my wing over her small frame.

**Hunger gnaws at my consciousness.**


	5. A little chat with Monika

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Kazuki's POV

When I wake up, the first thing I notice is that there's something heavy on top of me. The second thing I notice is that my shoulder is wet. I turn my head to take a look at whatever it is and find Natsuki sleeping on my back. She's drooling. Fortunately, she doesn't seem to have acidic saliva like some monsters do in those old movies, but it's still not very pleasant. I try to crawl from under he-

Suddenly, something squeezes me tightly. I don't have to turn my head to see her spider limbs holding me in place. I try to tell her to stop it, but I can barely wheeze out words. Trying to wiggle out of it only makes it worse. Is this how I'm going to die? Not the best way to go, but it could have been worse. Oh, what a cruel world.

"...Eh? KAZUKI?!" - she shouts as she almost instantly jumps off me.

I don't think there are enough god for me to thank. I do my best to swallow air I've been deprived of. What was she doing here anyway?

...Oh, right. I forgot to tell them where they are going to sleep. That's one hell of an oversight. If Natsuki decided to sleep here, then where is Yuri? There's not much space in my house. Maybe she's in the living room? The kitchen?...The bathroom? Well, I'll find out eventually. I have school to worry about.

I leave my bedroom and, just as I've expected, Yuri is sitting on the floor and reading something...or trying to. She looks drowsy. Did she not sleep? Judging by her face, she hasn't slept in years, but that's obviously not true. I take a look at the book she's trying to read and I don't think I've seen this one before.

"...good...morning..." - she drawls.

"Um, are you okay?" - I ask.

"Oh?...Y...Yes...I'm...fine..." - she replies.

"Man, you really need to go to sleep, don't you?"

"N...No...I...must...finish...th-"

"Do you even hear yourself? Even if the book is that good, everyone needs rest." - I interrupt her as I close her book. She tries to stop me with a noticeable delay.

"Give...it..." - she tries to say something, but it looks like she just gave up.

"You can use my bed if you want to. It's top tier material." - I tell her before giving the book back to her. She...crawls towards my bedroom and wait, since when did she wear a sweater? Eh, I'll leave these questions for later. I can't afford to spend any more time on this.

* * *

When I walk towards the classroom I need, I spot Monika in the hall. She looks disheveled and it sounds like she's muttering something.

" **Delete character Monika...Delete character Monika...Delete character Monika...** "

...What the hell is that supposed to mean? I quickly approach her and she jumps when I touch her.

"AH!"

"..."

"...Oh...Aha...ha...It's you, Kazuki...So, um, how's it been? Anything interesting to talk about?" - she asks.

"...Well, not really. To be honest, I didn't spend much time with them." - I reply, making sure not to tell her that I sort of passed out.

"Okay then! I'll see you later!" - she says before walking out of my sight. Now that was weird. Either way, I have things to do.

* * *

I enter the classroom used by the literature club and surprisingly, Monika is already here, sitting at her desk.

"Welcome back, Kazuki!" - she greets me cheerily. She looks slightly better now, but it's still not right.

"So, what is THIS all about?" - I ask.

"Oh, uh, I couldn't sleep last night. You know, too many things on my mind. Then I had to explain what happened here and oh boy, wasn't that just great?" - she replies and I don't want to imagine how it went. I wonder how she explained everything.

"Speaking of that, what are we going to do now that Yuri and Natsuki can't attend school? You can't have a club consisting of 2 members." - I ask.

"...Are you sure they REALLY can't be here?" - she asks in response. Is she serious about it?

"Their school uniforms are ruined and even if they could be here in whatever clothes they want, people would still see that something's wrong about them. Yuri would certainly be noticed even if others usually don't pay attention to her." - I reply.

"...Alright. I was curious, that's all. I suppose we can forget about the festival now." - she says, sadness permeating her voice...or is it disappointment? I can't tell and wait, festival? What festival?

"Oh, that's right, I haven't told you about it but we were supposed to be there on Monday to gain more members. We were going to recite our poems and let others try it too. Having mo- Natsuki and Yuri there wouldn't end well. We're not the anime club, so, we can't just say they are cosplaying as something and it's not Halloween either." - she explains to me before I can ask anything. It sounds like it could have been fun.

"Maybe they'll be back to normal just in time for the festival?" - I say.

"...What if they don't? What if it's permanent? Have you thought about it? Forever confined to your house with no hope of being a part of the human society ever again? We're not going to abandon them, but are we really enough for them? Just thinking about it...it's a horrible fate, isn't it?" - she asks and...damn, that's a horrible way to put it.

"Well, we don't have much of a choice, do we? We can't let others know about it...or at least I don't think we can. People these days aren't going to burn them at the stakes or anything, but...I just...don't know what to do." - I say with a sigh.

"...we have some time to think about it. For now, I've told everyone that they are ill. Maybe we could try to bring them here. Asking them about it wouldn't hurt. We can't really decide everything for them. Now that's just wrong!" - she says with a smile, which doesn't fit what she just said.

"I'll ask them about it...Good grief, what did we get ourselves into?" - I say, gripping my non-existent cap.

"Really now? This is neither the place nor time for this." - she says...Is she a...?

"With that said, it's time to go home. We have nothing to do if we're the only members present in the classroom. Oh! Speaking of that, if they refuse, we could have a literature club at your place!" - she suggests.

"That...sounds...like a good idea? I mean, we wouldn't have to worry about anything if it's my house. Hell, we could even walk around naked and nobody would say anything!" - I say before thinking. Judging by the look on Monika's face, that wasn't the right thing to say.

"...The meeting is over. Go home." - she says with a smile, but I can tell that she's not in a good mood.

* * *

When I come back home, I'm greeted by Natsuki.

"You bought everything I asked you to, right?" - she asks.

"Yeah, I did" - I reply, showing her a bag with the things she asked me to buy this morning.

"This gonna be good..." - she says, rubbing her hands before taking the bags from me.

I'm really looking forward to this evening. I don't know what the occasion is, but she told me that she's going to bake cupcakes and that's great to hear. She's still in high spirits despite everything. I thought she wasn't going to be in a good mood after seeing her freak out yesterday, but looks like I was wrong and I'm happy about it.

When I enter the living room, I see Yuri sitting on the floor again and she's not much better than she was earlier. She does look pretty comfortable with her wings draped over her shoulders. I wonder if it actually helps her warm up?

"Did you even sleep like I asked you to?" - I ask.

"Huh?...Oh...yes...I did..." - she replies, but she's either lying or it has something to do with her new body.

"Ooookay then. So, are you going to wait for the cupcakes or have a snack right now?" - I ask and immediately draw her attention.

"YES! YES!...I mean...the latter..." - she replies.

"In that case, go to the kitchen. Sandwiches aren't the best way to go about it, but it should do." - I say.

When we enter the kitchen, I see that everything I've bought has already been unpacked. Natsuki notices us.

"Are you really THAT impatient? I haven't even started yet!" - she says. I shake my head in response.

"No, it's not that. Yuri is too hungry to wait for the cupcakes, so, I decided to make some sandwiches. I want to have one too. What about you?" - I ask. She sighs.

"Alright, let me see what you've got." - she says.

I take out the ingredients I need and get to work...or at least I try to, but the knife seems to be dull. It can't even cu- OW! Okay, maybe that wasn't the best idea. I've accidentally cut my finger while testing the knife's sharpness and so I look fo-

Yuri freezes. She looks wide awake now. Her eyes are fixed on my finger.

"...Yuri?" - Natsuki pokes her, but she receives no response. I move my finger around and Yuri's eyes follow it.


	6. How to tame a bloodthirsty dragon

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Natsuki's POV

"...Yuri?" - I try to draw Yuri's attention, but she just keeps looking straight ahead. Even shaking her doesn't do anything.

As I try to make her snap out of it, she stands up and slowly approaches Kazuki. Her eyes follow his injured finger and I don't like it one bit. What is she t-

Before I can even react, she grabs his injured finger and...puts it in her mouth?! What the hell?! As if that wasn't enough, she starts sucking on it and the expression on her face doesn't help. It's as if she has literally the greatest popsicle ever made in her mouth. It's honestly...disgusting. I'm not even sure if I can vomit, but I really feel like doing it.

"Um, Yuri? What are you doing, Yuri?" - Kazuki asks, just as confused about it as I am. Yuri simply waggles her tail in response.

"Yuri, cut it out!" - I yell at her when I see Kazuki wince. Looks like she's not exactly gentle about it.

"Could you stop sYURI IT HURTS STOP IT!" - Kazuki suddenly shouts and tries to get her off, but it only makes her bite his finger. Alright, I've got to save the day.

I waste no time to pry her jaws open with my bare hands, letting Kazuki escape. Moments later, Yuri makes a very displeased noise and breaks out of my grasp. I-I've never seen her glare at me like that...It's...terrifying.

" **YOU INSIGNIFICANT LITTLE BITCH! HOW DARE Y** ou..." - her expression shifts from pure rage to shock before she can say anything else. It doesn't take a genius to figure out that something is wrong.

"Kazuki, treat your injuries. Yuri, we've got to talk. Now." - I tell her as I drag Yuri into the living room. She doesn't resist.

"I'm sorry! I'm really sorry! I-I don't know what came over me, but I didn't mean it! I'm so sorry!" - she keeps apologizing and I'd like to end it on this note, but I can't.

"...Look, I'm not going to get mad at you if you tell me the truth. And I mean THE TRUTH, not whatever the fuck you gave me last night." - I say.

"Bu-That was the truth! I-I, um, fed the raccoon and-"

"Yuri." - I interrupt her. She really can't lie.

"...I...I can't tell you...I'm sorry, but I just can't tell you!" - she says. Honestly, I'm not surprised.

"You do know that it will come back to bite you in the ass later, do you?" - I ask, but I receive no response. She simply looks away.

"Well, I can't force you to tell me anything. You know better. You always did. Never change, Yuri." - I say before going back to the kitchen.

I'm relieved to see that Mr. Troublemaker is fine, but I still can't stop thinking about that stuck-up bitch. Is it really that hard to put some trust in others, especially when you go fucking apeshit without even knowing why? Maybe I'm not a good judge here, but it still pisses me off. I REALLY need to calm down. Baking should do the job well enough.

"So that's what they call love bites, huh?" - I try to lighten up the mood with an awkward joke.

"W-W-WHAT?!" - he shouts. Too easy.

"Do you really think I didn't notice how pleased you looked when she put your finger in her mouth?" - I ask with a grin on my face.

"I-She-Yu-You-I-Um-" - he stutters. I simply wiggle my eyebrows in response.

"Alright, alright, I'll stop...if you agree to help me bake cupcakes." - I say.

"...fine..." - he agrees.

"Great! Just make sure to follow my instructions to the T." - I warn him. I really don't want to throw away any malformed cupcakes. That's always a sad sight and a loss of resources too.

In a few minutes, we need is on the table or close to us. We can begin.

"Well then, what do you know about baking cupcakes?" - I ask.

"It's always better when you do it with a cute girl." - he replies. Suddenly, one of my extra appendages accidentally hits him in his dumb head.

"Whoops, looks like I still haven't learned how to control these things." - I say and I wiggle my spider limbs for emphasis.

"Yeah, as if I'm going to buy i-" - he tries to say something, but another limb goes out of control and hits him.

"Oh God Almighty, they have a mind of their own!" - I cry in disbelief as I start flailing them in front of Kazuki. Oh man, this is going to be fun.

* * *

Oh man, that was a horrible idea. It wasn't too bad until SOMEONE decided to taste the icing when I told him not to do it. That dumbass put the cupcakes in and turned the oven on without checking anything and he didn't even tell me about it! Fortunately, Yuri arrived with a fire extinguisher and put the fires out. UNfortunately, she didn't bother to make sure that we're out of the way. I would complain about getting my clothes dirty, but they're already ruined...Maybe I could borrow some from Yuri? They would be a little bit...They would be too big, but that's a small price to pay.

"So...uh...what are we going to do now?" - asks Kazuki. Good question!

"...Fast food?" - I suggest.

"Fast food." - Kazuki agrees.

"Fast food." - Yuri agrees as well. I'm not sure if I should be surprised or not. Not that it really matters as long as she doesn't try to fucking eat someone.

When Kazuki leaves to buy something for us to eat, I approach Yuri.

"If it's about what happened today, I'm not going to-"

"No, it's not that." - I interrupt her.

"Huh? T-Then what do you want?" - she asks.

"Well, you see, I can't really keep walking around in THIS." - I say, pointing at my ruined uniform.

"Ah, you want to borrow something from me?" - she asks. She's a clever girl.

"Yeah. It doesn't matter if it's too big or just fine. Anything is better than this." - I reply.

"Um...I do have something that might fit you well, but...how should I put it..." - she says while fiddling with her hair.

"...Is it ugly?" - I ask. Her face gains a pinkish hue, but it's still far from a natural color.

"What? No! It's just that...it's kinda fancy and IcanassureyouIhavenoideawhereitcamefrompleasedontask!" - she replies hastily.

"...Okay then. I have absolutely no idea what you tried to say here, but that doesn't matter. Where is it?" - I ask.

"It should be somewhere back in my house. I haven't seen it in years." - she replies. Hopefully she can find it...whatever it is.

"Oh, one more question: weren't you like dead tired few hours ago? Now you look much better." - I ask, squinting my eyes.

"Ah...that...Well...It looks like I can't really do much during the day unless I...um, drink blood? Even then, I'm growing tired with every second." - she replies. That explains it.

"So, you're some kind of a vampire dragon thing? Huh. At least you don't burn under the sunlight or anything. That would have been quite the pain in the ass to deal with. I don't know what I would do if I stumbled upon your ashes or saw it happen. Wait, can you turn into mist? Hypnotize people? STOP TIME?!" - I ask, maybe a little too excited about it.

"W-W-What? What does stopping time have to do with being a vampire? - she asks in response.

"Doesn't matter!" - I say, still waiting for her to answer my question.

"Uh...maybe? I haven't really tried anything aside from flight, but..." - her voice trails off.

We both turn our heads towards the door when we hear Kazuki enter.

"Well, folks! Here's some grub for you!" - he announces.

"Shawarma? Did we save the world or something?" - I ask as I pull our food out of the bags.

"Ah, no, but there's always time for that. Anyway, there should be two for each hungry mouth." - he replies.

Yuri immediately tears into her food. Knowing what happened last time, I poke her. When that doesn't work, I step on her tail. She snaps out of it and slow down. I feel sorry for hurting her, but she looks grateful for that.

It's easy to forget that nothing is right when you're just having fun times with people you know. I don't even feel mad at Yuri anymore. I'm still somewhat upset, but I'm not going to dwell on it. As long as she doesn't try to pull that shit with Kazuki, I'm fine with this.  **HE. BELONGS. TO. US. ANYWAY.**


	7. Little queen of a diminutive swarm

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Kazuki's POV.

By the time I gather the courage to ask them about...that, the sun has already set.

"So, me and Monika discussed some things today and we'd like to hear your opinion." - I say.

"Um, sure?" - Natsuki says, but Yuri remains silent. She still hasn't said anything in my presence. Where did Natsuki's new clothes come from anyway? They look too big on her. I wouldn't say she's drowning in her sweater or skirt, but it's still noticeable.

"The thing is that neither of us really wants to keep you in what might as well be a cage, away from others. She suggested you go to school as if nothing is wrong. For now, everyone thinks you're ill, so, you have some time to think about it." - I explain to them. I'm still not sure about this. Why does Monika even want them to go there in such state?

"Aren't you forgetting something?" - Natsuki asks, waving her extra appendages around for emphasis.

"No, but...well, I didn't abandon you, did I? Maybe others wouldn't immediately grab pitchforks either." - I reply.

"...Monika certainly wasn't pleased to see us. I've seen her try to drag you away.  **I've heard her call us monsters.** " - Yuri decides to speak up and...she is right.

"I don't remember that..." - Natsuki says, clearly confused.

"Yes, she did and that was wrong, but it didn't take me long to convince her that you're still you and there's nothing to worry about." - I say. For some reasons, Yuri flinches when I say it.

"...Eh, what the hell. It won't hurt to try it at least once. If something goes wrong, we can just leave. Somehow, I'm sure nobody could stop us if we tried to leave. There's one little problem though. My school uniform is ruined and I can't get my spare one since, you know, I can't just go back home like this." - Natsuki says. I swear I saw her eyes flicker for a moment.

"I could lend you mine." - Yuri tells Natsuki. I think it's safe to assume that she has something to do with Natsuki's new outfit.

"Wouldn't it be too big?" - Natsuki asks.

"Y-Yes, but I could make some adjustments." - Yuri replies.

"But what are you going to do about your uniform? You're, um, pretty big." - I ask. Last time she wore it, it was really short and...um...

"A-Ah, well, I'll have to...improvise." - Yuri replies. I don't doubt she can come up with something.

"By the way, why do you want to go there anyway?" - I ask, genuinely curious about it. I mean, I was the one who suggested that, but it seems like they agreed to it too easily.

"Honestly, I have no idea. It just...feels like I must do it. " - Natsuki replies.

"I have the same feeling. I don't have anyone I would truly miss aside from the literature club, but I simply can't think of a life without school." - Yuri says with a puzzled expression on her face.

That's...not exactly what I expected to hear. With that said, there's something else that must be addressed.

"Also, Yuri...if you really need blood, you can just...ask me for it." - I say with absolute confidence. Of course, it must be done in moderation.

"W-W-WHAT?!" - she shouts in response, gaining a pinkish hue.

"Do you even hear yourself?!" - Natsuki yells at me. I admit, it does sound weird, but what is normal now?

"Well, you were on the verge of falling asleep a few hours ago, but now you're fine. If it makes you feel better, I wouldn't mind giving you some. Just...don't get so grumpy if someone interrupts you." - I say. I don't want to see that look on her face ever again.

"I...I'm afraid I must decline this offer...It...It felt degrading. I don't want to do it even if it's necessary." - she replies, but she doesn't sound confident. Like she wants to say yes, but simply doesn't.

"Alright. Now then, I think we should figure out who is sleeping where. I sort of forgot about that last time, so..."

* * *

I'm woken up in the middle of the night by an obnoxiously loud scream. It takes me a few seconds to register it as Natsuki's and, after everything that happened recently, I run towards the living room where she was supposed to be sleeping. When I walk into the room, I'm greeted by the sight of Natsuki...dancing in the middle of it?

"GET IT OFF ME! GET IT OFF ME!" - she starts screaming when she sees me. Oh, so that's not a dance. That does explain the wildly flailing spider limbs.

"Get off what?" - I ask as I try to look for whatever is bothering her.

"THE SPIDER! JUST SQUISH IT OR SOMETHING!" - she replies. I smack her head as she asked me to.

"Ow! What the hell?" - she yells at me, forgetting about the spider for a second.

"I did exactly what you asked me to do. That aside, can you calm down for a bit?" - I ask her and she complies.

"Okay...Huh. I don't feel it crawling all over me anymore." - she says, but I don't pay much attention to her. My eyes are fixed on the little pink creature on her shoulder. I grab it before it can run away. She yelps when she sees it in my hand.

As I observe the wiggling mass in my hand, I notice a few things. It does look like a spider, but it's obviously not. It's armored, has only six legs and its head is completely different from any spider I've seen. Its mouth is made of five parts, with one forming the top jaw, two forming the bottom jaw and two on the sides. It's very similar to how Natsuki's mouth is structured. It also has antennae...Wait...the crest on its abdomen looks a lot like...I burst out laughing.

"Hey, what's so funny?" - she asks, obviously confused and a little bit upset.

"Natsuki, I think this one is yours. Take a look at this." - I say as I point at its abdomen.

"...Is that...No way...It's exactly like my hairpin!" - she says after poking the little critter. The spider stops struggling as soon as she touches it.

"I think you should hold it." - I say before putting the pink creature into her hand. I expected her to drop it, but she doesn't.

She seems to think about something for a minute before raising her other hand in front of the spider. It backs up a bit and stops when it gets too close to falling off. For some reasons, she decides to make a V-sign with her hand and the spider actually raises its front legs in response. When she curls up her middle finger, it lowers its right front leg. She proceeds to make several other hand gestures and the spider tries its best to mimic everything. When she moves her antennae, it does the same thing.

"You're actually...pretty cute...let's see...Crawl up to my shoulder!" - she commands and...it actually obeys her. This is the kind of stuff that gets million of views on the internet...hm...that's not a bad id-

Before I can think about all the money we could earn, more pink spiders crawl up Natsuki's shoulder. This time, she doesn't freak out, but she is confused. I think I know where they are coming from.

"Um...Natsuki? Could you turn around?" - I ask.

"Huh? Okay?" - she complies and I lift her sweater as much as I can without taking it off. Just as I thought, she is the source of these critters. They are coming out of small holes located on her back where ribs are connected to her spine. Looks like her body is much more different from before than I thought.

"W-What the fuck are you doing, you pervert?!" - she shouts before knocking me away with her extra appendages.

"I...I was curious, that's all. Turns out those spiders are coming out of you." - I say and she's not exactly happy to hear that.

"Oh for fuck's sake..." - she mutters as she burrows her face in her hands.

"Hey, that doesn't sound too bad." - I say and regret it when I see her smirk.

"Ho? Looks like we've got someone asking for trouble. Guys, you know what that means...Show no mercy." - she says with her arms crossed. Within seconds, my brain is overloaded as dozens of pink spiders start tickling me and there's nothing I can do about it. Where is Yuri anyway?

Well, it doesn't matter anymore. Looks like this is the definitive end of my incredibly tragic and surprisingly dull tale.

I don't even have anyone to continue my royal bloodline.

What a cruel world...


	8. Attack of a killer queen

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Yuri's POV.

Ah. I need to work on my landing. While it doesn't injure me, it seems to be done incorrectly. There's always a slight jolt of pain in my legs whenever I land on the ground, but so far, it doesn't affect anything and therefore I'm in no rush to perfect it.

Fortunately, I did not lose control tonight and there was no one in sight. I'm still worried about that girl. I ran before I could harm her, but I don't know what happened to her after that or why she was out so late at night in the first place. The chances of encountering her again are very low, but there's no knowing who else I might run into.

Just as I thought, I am a nocturnal creature. As soon as the moon became visible, I felt refreshed. That's not how it's supposed to work, but I shouldn't think too hard about it. There's no point in trying to explain how any of this works when it's obviously not something that can occur naturally.

With a bag in my hand, I open the door and enter Kazuki's house. I wonder if Natsuki is sleeping? Last night, she stayed with me for a few hours, but she still went to bed and she had no problems during the day, so, she's certainly not supposed to be active at night. If she is sleeping, she should be in be living room. I'll try to be as quiet as possible to avoid waking her up.

"Oh, you're back." - she greets me. She looks comfortable with that blanked draped over her shoulders.

"You're still awake? Well, that's fine. I brought you some things." - I say as I pull out clothes she asked for. Should I keep...that one for later?

"Thanks, Yuri. Oh! I almost forgot! I have something to show you. Wanna see?" - she asks me and she looks eager to demonstrate whatever that is.

"A-Ah, sure." - I accept her offer, curious about what she wants to show me.

Once she receives my answer, she removes the blanket, stands up and spreads her eyes wide. I see something move under the sweater I lent her and...are those spiders? Pink spiders? Where did she get them? Does Kazuki know about this?

"Surprised? You should have seen my face when one of these guys suddenly crawled up my face!" - she says after extending one of her arms towards me with dozens of spiders crawling all over it. I'm not squeamish when it comes to insects, but it doesn't look pleasant.

"Um...it's interesting? But where did you get them?" - I ask as I take a closer look at the spiders. They are certainly not regular spiders.

"Oh...uh...You see, they're sort of crawling out of my body. I can't really feel them crawling inside or something, but Kazuki told me they are coming out of holes on my back." - she replies. Huh. That's interesting.

"Is this all they can do?" - I ask as my interest in these arachnids grows.

"Pfft. You're underestimating these guys. Alright, everyone! All of you except for two smallest spiders can crawl back inside." - she commands and within seconds, only two spiders remain. This is truly fascinating. I clap my hands with a smile on my face.

"That's amazing, Natsuki! You don't even have to teach them anything and they obey! I've heard about spiders living in large colonies, but this is something new...Hm...I wonder if you count as their mother or their queen?" - I say and Natsuki immediately freezes.

"Uh...Yuri? Have I ever told you  **THAT. YOU. LOOK. TASTY?** " - she a- W-W-WHAT?! W-W-W-What is she saying?! S-Somehow, I can feel my face heat up as if I'm blushing despite it being impossible with my body.

"A-A-A-A-"

" **YOU. HAVE. JUST. ENOUGH. JUICY. BITS. TO. CHEW. AND. BONES. TO. GNAW. ON. MMMM. JUST. THINKING. ABOUT. IT. MAKES. OUR. MOUTH. WATER! CAN. WE. HAVE. A. BITE? PLEASE?** " - s-she asks. The fake scleras of her eyes are pitch black now, leaving only glowing pink irises. Ah, I see. I'm not the only one then. This isn't good.

"N-Natsuki, I know something is wrong with you! Calm down! - I say, but she's obviously not listening.

" **HUH? WE. CANNOT. CALM. DOWN! WE. ARE. SO. EXCITED! EXCITED. TO. EAT. YOU! BUT. YOU. ARE. ALSO. SO. FUN. TO. PLAY. WITH! WE. DO. NOT. KNOW. WHAT. TO. DO! OH! WE. KNOW! WE. SHOULD. ALL. VOTE! PLAY. OR. EAT? WHAT. DO. YOU. GUYS. THINK? WE. WANT. TO. EAT! WE. WONDER. WHAT. YURI. TASTES. LIKE? SWEET. OR. SOUR? MAYBE. BOTH? MAYBE. NEITHER? MAYBE. PLAIN? WE. CANNOT. WAIT. TO. FIND. OUT! ARE. YOU. EXCITED. YURI? WE. ARE!** " she asks cheerily, her feet no longer touching the floor as she uses her extra appendages to stand.

"B-B-But what do you want to play?" - I ask to distract her.

" **OH? UM. WE. COULD. MAKE. YOU. DANCE. ALL. NIGHT? TEAR. OFF. YOUR. SKIN. AND. WATCH. YOU. SQUIRM?...PLAY...SUPER. SMASH. BROS? OR. MAYBE. ALL. OF. THAT?** " - she replies, her sing-song tone of voice still present and...Smash Bros?

"Y-Yeah! We can just have some fun toge-"

" **THE. VOTING. IS. DONE! WE. ARE. HUNGRY. AND. SO. WE. DECIDED. TO. EAT. YURI! TIME. TO. FEAST! FEAST! FEAST!** " - she says before lunging at me with her mouth split into five parts, each lined with teeth. Fortunately, I can react in time to close her mouth shut, making her scream in pain. Once her eyes regain their normal color, I let her go.

"...Thankth, Yuri, but it thtill hurtth like hell." - she mutters. Looks like I pinched her tongue with the lower parts of her mouth when I closed it.

"Sorry, but it had to be done. Now then, I must go to warn Kazuki. He's not going to understand you well until you recover. Leave your apologies for later." - I say, not quite ready to tell her everything, but it's for the best. He must know.

I leave the living room and head towards the bedroom. I don't want to wake him up, but this is an urgent matter. There's no knowing what would happen if we both lost control while he can't fight back or run. That is without even getting into what trouble we would get into if it happened elsewhere. I don't know how to tell him about this, but I'm sure I can figure it out.

I enter his bedroom. I have no need to turn the lights on.  **My eyes are already perfect, just like the rest of me. Artificial lights are absolutely useless to me. Ah, he's so serene when he's sleeping. It's almost adorable. Unfortunately for him, this is his last night. No one can stop me. That damn pipsqueak isn't there to intervene or attack me and so I am free to devour him. He's all mine. Mine alone.**

" **Oh, little Kazuki, you have no idea what awaits you, but I promise that I won't leave behind even your dried husk when I'm done with you. You shall be the first one to die.** " **\- I whisper, more for myself than the human. It's always more fun this way.**

**Now then, I have plenty of time to do this. As I'm in no hurry, I slowly walk towards him and crawl up his soft bed. It would be a shame if it got stained with his blood and it would also be a pain in the ass to get rid of the blood on my body, so, I'll try not to make it messy. The anticipation is killing me. I can already smell his sweet scent, hear his heart beat, feel his warmth a-**

" **Eh?** "

**H-H-His arm suddenly wraps around my body a-a-a** -A-A-AH WHAT IS THIS?! I-I-It's not right, but he's also so warm and soft and AAAH! What am I supposed to do? I can barely suppress the urge to scream. I must tell him everything, but...it feels so good...I can't wake him up like this. I must, but...I don't feel like it?...Maybe we can leave that for later...May-

S-S-Suddenly, h-h-he pulls me in closer a-a-and nuzzles my neck...ah, now I know that I should have sent Natsuki instead! This is just...too much! I need to get out...or should I? It wouldn't hurt anyone. Just one night. I doubt I can really sleep at night, but taking a nap should be possible. I just have to make sure not to be there when he wakes up to avoid...um...this situation getting any more awkward than it already is. I don't know how I would even explain...this.

Hm...I swear I heard someone giggle outside...Ah, it doesn't really matter.


	9. A surprisingly normal day?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Kazuki's POV.

_Endless chattering and promises of a horrible fate delivered in a sweet voice_

_Millions of eyes closely observing my every movement with excitement_

_Thousands of legs moving in unison to catch the unlucky victim_

_All I can do is run and run before they can catch up with me_

_I can already see the heavenly light coming from the exit_

_I should have listened to them all before going here_

_I should have noticed the signs of danger_

_I can already feel the warmth of the sun_

_But I know now that it is too late_

_It's behind me_

* * *

I'm woken up from the nightmare by the lack of oxygen. I open my eyes and quickly find out what's wrong. Yuri is sleeping on my bed, holding me in an uncomfortably tight embrace with her tail wrapped around my legs and my face buried in her chest. I would feel much better if I could actually breathe and so I try to escape.

"Huh? What's the m-K-K-KAZUKI?!" - she shouts before jumping off like a scared cat and running away.

I breathe heavily in desperate need for oxygen. I'm not sure if I would actually like it if it happened every day. I still kinda need my lungs and ribcage. Then again, the thought of it is still pretty nice.

"Good morning, everyone." - I greet the girls as I leave my bedroom. Yuri's skin still has a pink hue and Natsuki's face makes it obvious that she knows why.

"Good morning, Kazuki! Slept well with that big scaly pillow of yours?" - Natsuki asks, her grin still present.

"N-N-Natsuki!" - Yuri stutters with embarrassment. I'm not feeling any better about it, but I try not to show it...TRY not to show it.

"A-Anyway, are you ready for today?" - I ask, failing to keep my composure just as I expected. They exchange looks, but I have no idea why.

"Y-Yeah, can't you see it?" - Natsuki replies. She's already wearing her uniform and looks ready to go. It's safe to assume that she's been awake for quite some time.

"Um...I'll be ready in a few minutes..." - Yuri mutters. She certainly has a lot to work on. Her hair is in a mess and her face...well, I don't think there's anything she can do about that skin color or what looks like dark circles under her eyes. At least she doesn't look as tired as she was yesterday. I don't know how much blood she drank yesterday, but it certainly helps her a lot. I just hope she won't fall asleep.

"Okay then. Here's hoping it goes well..." - I say. For some reason, neither seems sure about it, but I can tell that they are excited thanks to Yuri's tail and Natsuki's antennae...wait, something is wrong here...

'What's with that look?" - Natsuki asks me.

"Where are all of those extra limbs you have?" - I ask in response. It doesn't look right at this point.

"Oh, that? Well, they are wrapped around my chest and shoulders. I didn't know how to put these clothes on with those things on my back." - she explains.

"...That doesn't sound comfortable at all. You hit me with them before and they didn't feel very nice." - I say.

"It's not like my chest is any better no-ANYWAY, I think you two have things to do, don't you?" - she asks, but I still heard that little bit. I don't want to know what she meant by that. I just...don't. There is something I'm curious about though.

"So, Yuri...what were you doing on my bed?" - I ask, trying my best to keep myself calm.

"U-Um, you see, I was...Er...I felt chilly and tried to find something warm. Natsuki was too cold to my liking and so I chose you. I-I'm sorry for that! I didn't mean to...um...well..." - she replies, her voice trailing off. I can see Natsuki glaring at her, but it's gone within seconds.

"I-I see...Well then, why don't we have breakfast first?" - I suggest.

"...Okay, sure." - Natsuki replies, her eyes still fixed on Yuri who simply nods in response to my suggestion.

* * *

With my classes about to end, I wonder how the girls are doing. So far, I haven't heard anyone scream and I've yet to receive any messages or calls from them. I assume everything is going alright, but that's all I can do until I actually ask them about it. I'm still not sure if this is a good idea or if it's going to be a disaster.

Now that I think about it, this whole thing is rather...weird. Why would Monika even suggest them to go to school knowing what happened to them? Why didn't they stay at home? Natsuki probably has some friends here, but Yuri herself said that she doesn't have anyone she would really miss here and she seems to be much less active during the day. All things considered, she shouldn't be here. Is there something I'm missing? Something I don't know? Thinking about it, when Monika returned right after Natsuki and Yuri's transformations were complete, she didn't start panicking or even look scared until she saw me. Ma-

The bell rings, distracting me from my thoughts. I should probably leave it for later. Now is time for the literature club. I'm actually curious about what the girls' day was like. I hope nothing bad happened to them...or others. I have no reason to worry about their safety as I know how strong they are, but I can't say anything about people around them.

When I open the door to the classroom we use for the club, I'm greeted by the sight of Monika...sleeping on a desk. I approach her to w-

"IT'S TIME TO EXCHANGE POEMS!" - she suddenly stands up and screams, making me jumps. Well, at least she looks better than yesterday. Man, I've never seen her in such a horrible state before that day. I half expected her to become something else too.

"H-Hello, Monika..." - I greet her.

"Oh, um...Hi, Kazuki. Sorry about that. Now then, are they here?" - she asks and I can't help but notice that something is missing here.

"Yes, they should be coming in a few minutes, but...where is your bow?" - I ask, pointing at her loose hair. It looks much longer when it's no longer bound by anything.

"My bow? What are you talking about? It's h- oh...Jeez, I've been surprisingly absentminded lately, haven't I? I swear this isn't what I'm usually like." - she replies with a pout.

I hear the door open and see Natsuki walk into the classroom. She looks pretty happy, which in turn makes me feel better about this idea.

"Oh, hi Natsuki! It's been a while, hasn't it? How was your day?" - Monika asks before I can do.

"Hello, Monika! You look...good today? Anyway, it was pretty fun. I thought it was going to be dull or uncomfortable with everyone staring at me, but it was much better once I got past all those stupid questions about what happened to me! Oh man, their faces when I entered were good on their own, but you should have seen them when I did this!" - she says before opening her mouth. Just like that time when I...er...tried to force her to produce web, her mouth splits into five parts, but this time, teeth emerge from each part and...even her...throat...Monika even jumps a little at the sight of it.

"Jesus Christ, Natsuki, you're not supposed to do that unless you're trying to give someone a heart attack!" - Monika exclaims. Fortunately, Natsuki closes her mouth.

"C'mon, people thought it was cool. Well, except for one asshole, but he complained about other things like the screaming skull on my...abdomen, was it? Either way, he refused to let me attend his classes and I had to wait for a while with nobody to talk to aside from my spiders." - Natsuki says in response. The last bit draws Monika's attention.

"Your spiders? I don't remember you keeping any pets, let alone spiders..." - Monika muses with her hand under her chin and a puzzled expression on her face.

"Ah, right, you don't know. I'll show you what I'm talking about later. It's kinda hard to make them come out with these clothes, but I can assure you that they are amazing." - Natsuki replies.

I hear the door open. Suddenly, Monika's body tenses up and her eyes widen. She looks...scared. Terrified. Her eyes are fixed on Yuri standing in the door way, but the girl in question looks just as confused as I am.

"Uh...hello, Ms. Club President?" - Yuri greets meekly, but Monika doesn't respond. She can barely breathe.

"Monika? Are you alright?" - I ask, my voice laden with worry. Natsuki looks worried too.

"Y-Yuri..." - she manages to wheeze out.

"Ah...you too, huh..." - Yuri mutters, her hands fiddling with her hair.

"What are you talking about? What happened?" - I ask.

"Well...how should I put it...Almost everyone I've seen has been acting strangely. They didn't say anything or even try to approach me. Most of the teachers treated me differently too. Even when I gave them incorrect answers, they accepted them immediately. So far, only you, Natsuki, some of my classmates and two teachers didn't behave any differently. It's like they are just...scared of me. However, there were people among those exceptions and they...aren't exactly known for their bravery. When I entered and explained everything, they were confused at worst." - Yuri replies. That certainly sounds weird.

"Hm? I didn't have anyone react to me that way. You don't look that scary either and even if you were, I'm sure they would have ran away or something." - Natsuki says and I agree. Aside from her monstrous strength and appetite, Yuri is not that bad...as far as I know.

"...Y...Yuri...C-Could you...leave the classroom...for a second?" - Monika asks with some effort. Yuri seems confused, but she still complies. As soon as she's out of the classroom, Monika relaxes and starts gasping for air. A few seconds later, Yuri comes back and Monika tenses up again. What is going on?

"...I see...This is...odd..." - Monika says with a strained voice. Yuri appears to be deep in thought.

"Oh my God...And here was I, thinking everything was going to be alright..." - Natsuki says with her face buried in her hands, clearly not happy with the current situation.

"...Okay...Kazuki...Natsuki...Could you leave me and Yuri...alone for a bit?...You can go home now...I'll see you tomorrow..." - Monika asks, struggling to keep herself standing. We decide not to make her strain herself any more and leave the classroom.

"Is it really a good idea to leave them all by themselves?" - I ask no one in particular.

" **WHO. CARES?**  I mean...you trust them not to do anything stupid, right? Then let's just go home. Yuri can catch up with us quickly." - Natsuki says. I swear I saw her eyes flicker for a moment.


	10. Keeping your promise

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Monika's POV.

Ah, if only I knew what my actions would cause...

In hindsight, sloppily merging their files with files from a completely different game wasn't a good idea. I'm actually surprised that our game didn't crash. However, what happened because of it doesn't make much sense either. Ever since I applied those changes, I've been unable to do anything with the game. I can't even delete my own file. I can read the contents of my own file and I still feel the presence of Sayori's back up file, so, it's still a game, something I'm actually happy about since I wouldn't be able to live knowing that I killed one of my friends and turned the other two into freaks of nature with no way to fix any of it.

Another thing is that I can't feel his presence. The game is still running, but it's as if he is not here. This is confusing, to say the least. Even when he took a break, I still knew he was there, but now there's nothing. If the game suddenly stopped responding, wouldn't he close it?

Such major deviations from the scripts aren't supposed to be possible either. The player avatar, Yuri and Natsuki display unnatural levels of autonomy. I'm not sure if I should feel sad or happy about it, but they are still influenced by their programming. Otherwise, neither would have come to school in such condition. What if that is the key? Maybe I'll regain control if they follow the script closely enough for their changes to be irrelevant?

...Should I even try fixing it? I mean...There's nothing saying that it's not just a waste of time. All I have is a few theories based on hope and nothing else. I'm also curious about what will happen now that everything is going off the script. They don't know that none of this is real and they are just as fake as they were before, but...Looks like I'm overthinking it. It wouldn't hurt to try, would it?

Anyway, I should leave that for later. Right now, I have Yuri to worry about. Looks like that...um..."Passive Skill" is active now. I don't remember much about the contents of those foreign files, but I remember that one. How can it work in a game like this anyway? Unless I missed something, there shouldn't be any...er...Status Effects in a tacky romance game like this. Whatever the case is, I'm sure I don't want to know what that Damzahhak thing was like in its original game. What I remember from its file is enough to make me question its creators.

"So...what do you want to discuss with me?" - Yuri finally asks after what feels like hours of silence. Her behavior is different from how it was before. She was barely capable of forming a complete sentence before and even if she's not too different now, I can still notice the change. Could it be a result of the merging?

"I...want to...apologize..." - I say with a strained voice. The pressure on my body and the ringing in my ears are almost unbearable.

"Huh? For what?" - she asks.

"For...calling you monsters...I was...scared...a-"

" **Do you think an apology is enough? Kneel.** " - she orders and I fall on my knees from increased pressure on my body. This isn't good...

" **Now listen carefully, Ms. Club President. If you truly wish to atone for your sins, you'll have to try harder than that...but you're**  still my friend...and I shouldn't...I shouldn't be so petty...Ah, this isn't right...I'm sorry! I didn't...Are you alright?" - she asks and that unpleasant feeling vanishes. Looks like I should be careful around her and Natsuki.

"Y-Yeah, I feel better now...Thanks...Well, now that we're done with that, there's nothing keeping us here. You can go home. I'll see you tomorrow!" - I say with a much clearer voice. Once she leaves the classroom, I start thinking of how to put them back on track...Ah, the things I do for him...I hope we can meet again...

* * *

As I walk towards Kazuki's house, I take a look at myself again. These clothes aren't supposed to exist. These bags and their contents aren't supposed to exist. My house isn't supposed to exist. No one aside from the members of the literature club is supposed to truly exist. But this is fine. I shouldn't complain about something like this. Having to explain what happened to the classroom we used wasn't a good experience, but it's better than nothing..?

Once I reach his house, I knock on the door. A few seconds later, Natsuki opens the door. That sweater looks too big on her.

"Hello, Natsuki!" - I greet her with a smile.

"Um, hi? I didn't expect you to come this early. Come in." - she says. She is right. It's barely 8 in the morning.

"Natsuki? Who is that?" - I hear Kazuki ask.

"Ah, it's just Monika." - Natsuki replies before taking my bags from my hands. I'm still not really used to her new appearance. Her eyes are the worst part of it. Ah, here he is.

"Monika? What are you doing here?" - Kazuki asks.

"Don't you remember it? Ahaha! You forgot, didn't you? I told you that I'm going to help you all and so I decided to pay you a visit to see how everything is going and help you out with some things." - I reply. It still feels weird to talk to him outside of scripted events when he isn't present to see it.

"Took you long enough." - Natsuki says, clearly upset about it. I wasn't lying when I said I had other things to do, but I still had enough time to visit them.

"Hey, she was busy. I can understand why she didn't come before." - Kazuki says, making Natsuki calm down a bit.

"No, it's alright. What kind of club president am I if I don't ensure that the members of my club are doing fine?" - I say. Of course I have no reason to keep them in good spirits when they are going to be okay regardless of my actions, but right now, I should do my best to stay on their good side.

"A pretty dumb one with a habit of putting my things in the wrong place, but at least you're honest." - Natsuki replies.

"Ah! Natsuki! Those words! Right in my heart!" - I exclaim with my right hand over my heart and my left hand over my forehead. She tenses up for a second, but it's gone before Kazuki can notice it.

"How about we move on to other things before anyone dies?" - Kazuki suggests, rolling his eyes at our antics.

"But I haven't even started listing all the times she ruined our f-"

"Yeah, let's move on!" - I interrupt Natsuki as I put my hand over her mouth. She pretends to be trying to remove it, but I can tell that she's not really putting any effort into it. She's actually trying not to scratch me with the sharp tips of her fingers.

Once I let Natsuki go, Kazuki leads me to the living room. I find Yuri sleeping on the floor in a rather uncomfortable position. She's still in her school uniform, but there's a blanked draped over her.

"What's up with her?" - I ask, pointing at the unmoving purple mass on the floor.

"Oh? Yuri? Well, she sort of collapsed on the floor as soon as she came back from school. We tried to move her elsewhere, but...she didn't let us." - Natsuki replies as she rubs her left cheek.

I take another look at sleeping Yuri and I notice that her feet are covered in tape. Ah, I see. She used it to bind her toes together so they wouldn't stick out or tear her shoes apart. That doesn't look comfortable, but I'm glad to know that they are adjusting to it.

"That's a shame. I wanted to tell you something, but I need all of you to hear it. I guess we could wait for her to wake up, but we'll need something to distract us until that happens." - I say as we leave the living room to let Yuri rest. He looks contemplative for a bit before his expression changes.

"I know! How about some Smash Bros?" - he suggests and...really now? Did my creator really like that game? Even I have some lines written about it in the script.

"Eh, why not? It's not like there is much else to do. Most of your manga isn't something I like and Yuri's books are hard to read." - Natsuki replies. Maybe I should buy her something later. I don't know how I would feel if so many things I loved were destroyed by my own hands.

"Are you sure you want to challenge me? My name has yet to know defeat..." - I warn Kazuki with the friendliest expression I can make.

"Well, you haven't faced me before! If you are still undefeated, then I'll show you what it means to lose!" - he exclaims.

"Yeah, I'm sure you will when you lose your last stock." - I say with my eyelids slightly parted.

"Bring it on!" - Kazuki shouts, clearly eager to beat me. Natsuki doesn't look like she thinks he will win, but she's still excited to see him try.

I suppose a little distraction like this won't hurt...


	11. Freaking Monika

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Natsuki's POV.

Freaking Monika...This isn't what you're supposed to do if you want to be on good terms with someone! Kazuki doesn't look like the kind of guy who would get mad over a game, but damn, that was brutal. When did she even have time to get so good at this game? My experience with it is limited to the times when we played it in the literature club out of boredom, but that was so rarely done I didn't have much time to get good at it.

"Ahahahaha! And so I stand undefeated!" - Monika exclaims with pride and joy.

"As if this is something to get all high and mighty about..." - I mumble, obviously not upset about being the worst player out of us.

"Honestly, Monika, I didn't expect you to be into this kind of stuff." - Kazuki says after putting his controller of the floor.

"I'm not! It's just a silly little thing I've learned on a whim." - she says.

"Yeah, sure. Next thing you're going to say is that you were born with those skills." - I say with my arms crossed.

"...What is all this...commotion all about?" - Yuri asks as she enters the room, almost dragging her tail and wings along the floor. Just looking at her confirms that being a vampire sucks unless you're in one of those novels where they spark under sunlight or they're actually aliens from the moon.

"Ah, you're finally awake. We were worried about you." - Kazuki says.

"Why?" - Yuri asks.

"Yesterday, you collapsed on the floor as soon as you came back from school. By the way, you sure do pack a punch. When I tried moving you, you backhanded me so hard I actually spat out one of my spiders!" - I reply. My left cheek still hurts, but the look on Yuri's face makes it seem like she was hurt more.

"I-I-I'm sorry!" - she shouts as she tries to hide herself with her wings. It's kind of pointless with her height and wingspan in mind. Uh, why couldn't I grow a few inches instead? As if that wasn't enough, now I have literally nothing "up here" while she still has hers! That's so unfair!

"...Anyway, now that everyone is here, I have something to ask of you. You know how there's going to be a festival on Monday? Well, I need you to help me. The literature club needs new members and this is the perfect opportunity to get so-"

"Wait, are you serious?! We have less than two days to prepare for the event! Do you expect us to get everything done so quickly?! What are we going to do there anyway?" - I interrupt Monika. This is ridiculous!

"I agree...with Natsuki...I don't do well with...last-minute preparations." - Yuri says. Thank you, Yuri. I'm still mad at her for not telling Kazuki about what happened that night, but right now, it doesn't matter.

"Ah, don't worry! I've got most of the work done. The posters have already been put up and I'm already done with the pamphlets. As for your question, Natsuki, we are going to have a poetry performance! Each of us are going to choose a poem to recite during the event. But the cool part is, we're also going to let anyone else come up and recite poems too!" - Monika replies. I can't say I'm surprised by this.

"So, now we have to do it? Yeah, there's no way I'm going to be performing in front of a group of people like that!" - I yell at Monika.

"I can't...do that...either...You should have...warned us earlier..." - Yuri says and I agree with her.

"Yeah, that's not good, but I can see why Monika didn't tell you about it earlier. Would you really listen to her right after getting turned into...well, this?" - Kazuki asks. He is right, I would be too occupied with this stuff to care about some festival.

"No, it's alright. I can see where they are coming from. Remember that Natsuki and Yuri have never shared their poems with anyone until just a couple days ago...It's a lot to ask for them to recite their poems out loud to a whole room full of people. I guess I kind of overlooked that. So, I'm sorry." - Monika says. Uh...That expression...

"Hey, I didn't say no, did I? I can try. We're still a part of the literature club and so we can't let your efforts go to waste, right?" - I say, trying my best to look confident.

"Well...I...I could try too...I guess...but..." - Yuri mutters. Considering what happened the last time she tried to keep herself awake during the day, I bet she's going to sleep for several days after the festival.

"Eh, I've got nothing to lose. I'll do everything you need me to do if you want to take part in the festival that badly." - Kazuki says. Monika smiles and I can't tell if it's a good thing or not.

"Alright, then! I've already told you what I'm doing, so, I'll assign everyone else their tasks. Natsuki, you're going to bake your trademark cupcakes, but you'll have to make a lot of them and in different flavors. Yuri, you should make some banners and decorations to help set the atmosphere. Kazuki...hm...let's see...I think I should let you decide...or maybe I should...ah..." - Monika says, her voice trailing off as she struggles to come up with a task for Kazuki.

"I guess I could help you all with your tasks? That's all I can think of. I'm useless otherwise." - he suggests as he glances around the room.

"Are you sure? That sounds like it would be a bit too much for you." - Monika asks.

"Don't worry. I can handle it. " - he replies, but she doesn't look convinced.

"I don't want you to overexert yourself. I think you should focus on on-"

"For fuck's sake, just let him do whatever he thinks is for the best!" - I interrupt her again. Her smile is still present in spite of that.  **MAYBE. WE. SHOULD. TEAR. IT. OF** -

"I'm sorry, I'm just trying to make sure everything goes well..." - Monika says with a dejected expression.

"L-Let's just...get to work..." - Yuri suggests. She's surprisingly likeable today.

"Good idea, but I'm afraid you'll have to wait until the night comes before you can really do anything. You can rest until then. I'll help others while you're resting." - Kazuki says. Yuri hesitates for a few seconds before leaving...hm...I have an idea...

"I think I'm not going to need your help, Kazuki. You remember how it ended last time and we were doing that for ourselves. It's not like I'll be left all alone. Oh! Right! I haven't shown you what I was talking about back in school, right, Monika?" - I ask.

"No, you didn't. Honestly, I don't even know what to expect." - she replies.

"Then let me show my crew!" - I exclaim as I push her towards the kitchen. She feels so light now. I bet I could bench press her without breaking a sweat. Maybe I should do that later...

Within a few seconds, we reach the kitchen. I really hope we still have something left after that failure or else it's going to be really disappointing. I can already feel something crawling on my back, but it's much more tolerable now. It doesn't take Monika long to notice them, but she is surprisingly calm. I kinda wanted to see her freak out again...Ah, what a shame. It's not like I enjoy scaring people, but there's just something amusing about seeing her panic. Maybe it's because she keeps her composure so well?

"So...is that it?" - she asks, but she doesn't sound very disappointed.

"What? No! Just...have some patience, okay?" - I reply.

Well, well, well, where did we leave all those ingredients? Eh, what the hell. I might as well send them everywhere. I don't know how many of them I have, but there should be enough. Still, I feel...empty without them. It's as if nothing is inside me aside from those guys. It's a weird feeling, but it's so natural now. I can't even remember what it felt like before. Never really thought about it.

Ah, looks like they found something.

"Now I'm going to show you what teamwork...looks...like..." - my voice trails off when I notice that my spiders are too small and weak to actually carry anything. Now this is just embarrassing...I didn't think they were so usele-

"Um, Natsuki? Are they supposed to do that?" - she asks me as she points at one of the spiders...eating others? It looks like it grows with each bite.

As I look around the room, I see the same thing happen with other spiders. That's...weird. They meet no resistance either. What is the meaning of this? Now that I think about it, how do they even feed themselves? Do they simply eat whatever I eat? But then I would always feel hungry and that's not the case.

"I think I understand what's going on. Look!" - she points at them again, but now they are carrying everything I need. That's neat. Unnecessarily violent, but neat. I wonder what else they can do?

"A-Anyway, let's get back to work. We don't have enough to get everything ready, but this should be a good start. Oh, by the way, could you ask Kazuki to buy more of this stuff?" - I ask and she nods before leaving the room.

Now that she's gone, I'm left to my own thoughts. Why didn't Yuri tell him about what happened that night? Why didn't I say anything either? Could it be that...we're afraid of getting abandoned? That would suck, sure, but it's not worth getting others in trouble...and yet I still don't have the guts to tell him anything...AH! Why does it always have to be so fucking difficult?!

It's not like we know him well. He doesn't know much about us either. He's just some guy Monika brought out of nowhere...but he also helped us when we needed it and he's still trying to help us. I'm sure he's not just taking advantage of us or else he would help only one of us. Even then, it seems like it would take too much effort. He doesn't seem to be the kind of guy who would just hand us over to some shady organization in exchange for money either.  **AH! IS. HE. NOT. JUST. LOVELY? SUCH. A. KIND. YOUNG. MAN. WITH. GOOD. TASTE. IN. LITERATURE. AND. HE. LOOKS. HEALTHY. TOO! IS. HE...IS. HE. THE. ONE? IS. HE. THE. ONE. WHO. SHALL. BEAR. OUR. CHILDREN? WE. CAN. ALREADY. IMAGINE. THAT**...and I want to puke my fucking guts out at the mere thought of it...No, I must focus on baking...Yeah, these thoughts will go away if I just...think of something else...Yeah...that should work...


	12. A nasty surprise

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Kazuki's POV.

Uh...As if having to take care of two very real monster girls wasn't enough, now we have the school festival to worry about...Speaking of that, I still haven't figured out what they are supposed to be. I've read some stuff on the internet, but it didn't help much. Yuri is the worst with it as she has absolutely nothing in common with any real animal. Even taking a look at the...er...Monster Girl Encyclopedia gave nothing. All things considered, it would be much worse if they matched any of the species there or if they were straight up monsters with nothing human about them, but "it could have been worse" doesn't make it any better.

Oh, looks like Monika came back from the kitchen.

"Hey, Kazuki, Natsuki asked you to buy the ingredients for cupcakes. You know what she needs, right?" - she asks.

"Yeah, I've recently bought everything needed, but I didn't have the festival in mind. I'll go get them." - I reply, but before I can go anywhere, she grabs my arm.

"Ah, could you tell me something first? I'm just...curious." - she asks and I have no idea what she has in mind.

"Sure...?" - I reply and she gets...uncomfortably close.

"What keeps you going? Like...what makes you get up from bed and go through the day?" - she asks...huh. I try to think of a reason, but nothing comes to mind. I'm not a nihilist or anything, but...I really don't know...Why do I even bother?...

"I mean...why not?" - I reply with absolutely no confidence. She smiles, but for some reasons, it doesn't look pleasant.

"...Say, what if I told you that a kind girl helped you with your life since your childhood just to make you happy?" - she asks, her unblinking green eyes staring into my very soul. It sounds a bit too dramatic, but it feels like that.

"I wouldn't believe you, but if that was the case, I would be grateful for everything she did. She sounds like a good friend." - I reply. This prompts her to get even closer.

"...What if I told you that I made that girl commit suicide?" - she asks, her smile still present...What the hell?

"Um...well...I..." - I try to reply, but...what am I even supposed to say in response? Why would she even do that?

"What if I told you that nobody remembers her because the world thought it would get in the way and erased all traces of her existence?" - she asks, her eyes a few inches away from my face. The room feels deathly cold now.

"Um..."

"What if I told you that nothing is real and we are nothing but puppets dancing to the whims of their cruel puppeteer, all for a lonely stranger's entertainment?" - she...okay, this is getting really weird and her smile does nothing to help it.

"...M...Monika?"

"...Just kidding! Ahahaha! You should have seen your face." - she says before poking my nose, but the feeling of dread doesn't leave me. What on Earth made her come up with such questions? I'd expect Yuri to get into deep stuff like this, not Monika.

...Anyway, I have things to do. Natsuki is going to make a lot of cupcakes in different flavors, so, I'm going to have more than enough things to carry. Hopefully I'll get this...conversation out of my mind by the time I'm back.

* * *

Damn, it's much heavier than I expected! My arms almost fall off by the time I reach my house. Fortunately, Monika is here to open the door for me so I don't have to pause. I drop the bags in the kitchen and go to the living room to have some rest. I'd flop down onto my bed, but Yuri is already there. She's probably forcing herself to read instead of sleeping, but I'm not going to tell her to...hm...it smells really nice...Is Natsuki already done with the first batch? I haven't really paid much attention when I entered the kitchen, but I don't think there's anything else that could give off such smell.

"Attention, everyone! The first batch of Natsuki's Cupcakes™ is done! Get to da kitchen!" - Natsuki shouts with a thick accent and Monika is already on her way to the kitchen, clearly eager to have some. I guess I should tell Yuri about it. I don't want her to miss them considering what happened last tim-

My train of thought crashes when the door to my bedroom hits my face with full force of a hungry dragon. Yuri doesn't even stop to apologize, which is unusual for her, but I can't really blame her, but it still hurts. Is this what Natsuki felt when she tried to move her? I hope not.

"Kazuki! Get your sorry butt over here!" - Natsuki shouts again and I obey without a question.

When I enter the kitchen, I see everyone sitting at the table. I'm surprised they still haven't eaten the cupcakes, but I appreciate the thought. Speaking of cupcakes, they are already on the table and they look...okay? It looks like she tried to make them look like cats again, but most of them are misshapen and one of them looks like a spider instead. When I tear my eyes away from those tasty little things and look at Natsuki, she looks elsewhere.

"D-Don't judge harshly! These hands really aren't fit for such precise work and this is literally the first time my guys baked anything." - she says, wiggling her fingers for emphasis. She's been complaining about her hands since day 1, but I still don't see how they would be an issue. They look sharp, but Yuri doesn't complain about her claws, so, maybe it's something that can't be seen?

"Nobody's judging you, Natsuki. Well, not until we actually take a bite, but I'm sure they're going to be just as good as they usually are." - Monika says without taking her eyes off her cupcakes.

And so, I take my first bite. It's just as good as it was on my first day in the literature club. I didn't expect anything less from Natsuki. Even if her head is looking away, I can still see that spider looking at us. Even if it is pink and it's trying to hide in her hair, it's still easy to make out. I wave at it and it quickly retreats into her hair. Looks like she's been teaching them some new tricks.

I look around the room and see that others are enjoying it too. Monika is still eating her first cupcake, but Yuri is already done with hers. I bet she shoved it into her mouth again. Her appetite is certainly monstrous. I wonder if blood sates her hunger better? It certainly helps her, but I'm not sure why. I really doubt it's something that could be explained with science, but I'm not that good at biology to say anything anyway.

Oh. Looks like I'm already done with my first cupcake. I didn't even notice it until I bit nothing. Well, I still have one more. I take a bite...and it's much crunchier. There's also something...Wait...that taste...

I take a look at the cupcake in my hands and see exactly what I expected, but didn't want to see. Blood. Red blood and twitching pink legs. The same liquid that's dripping down my chin. Everyone else is staring at me now. I can't see Natsuki's expression, but I can see that Monika looks shocked and Yuri is just...confused? I expected her to lunge at me again, but it doesn't look like she's going to do it. I'm grateful for that, but that doesn't help me with my current problem. Natsuki was using her spiders to help her with the cupcakes, so, I know how it got here, but why the fuck does it have red blood and why does it have so much of it? Shouldn't it be baked anyway? Well, unless it's fire-resistant or something, but that's not something I want to think about.

"Um...Natsu-AH!" - I yelp when I lift my head to look at Natsuki and see her right in front of me. I didn't even hear her approach me. I couldn't have been that deep in thought not to notice her.

"Ah, that's where it went. Sorry about that. Let me fix this..." - she says before taking my cupcake...and fucking eating it. The sickening crunch coming from her mouth doesn't help improve the mood.

Monika suddenly stands up and quickly leaves the kitchen. It doesn't take a genius to guess where she went. I've heard that she's a vegetarian, so, maybe that's why. Then again, it was pretty disgusting on its own. Yuri doesn't seem to mind though. After reading the book she gave me, I can see why she wouldn't think much of it. What I'm actually surprised at is Natsuki's nonchalant expression and what sounds like...happy chirps coming from her.

"Hm? Oh...um...that looked pretty messed up, didn't it? Um, well, they told me that's what I'm supposed to do. It was surprisingly tasty...Wait, that sounds wrong..." - Natsuki tries to explain. Yuri simply takes a look at her cupcake and eats it anyway. Fortunately, no crunchings sounds are heard when she starts chewing it.

"...I'm out." - I mutter before walking out of the kitchen.

I...I don't...Uh, I just need some rest, that's all.


	13. It could have been worse

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Yuri's POV.

If there is one harmless thing I hate the most about my new body, then it's certainly the feeling I have during the day. My social skills and lack of confidence in myself are problems on their own, but being too tired to even express myself only amplifies them. Even if I decide to take a nap, it still refuses to subside until the night comes or...well...I drink blood. It would be nice to walk around during the day without that awful feeling and that  **exquisite taste of blood is a cherry o** -

Intrusive thoughts aside, I am curious about why blood from that cupcake Kazuki bit didn't make me lose control again. Back when...that happened, all I could think about was  **having a taste of the precious red liquid**  leaking out of the wound on his finger **and sinking my fangs into his soft an** \- I couldn't resist it, but this time, I didn't even feel anything. Could it be that only human blood is suitable for me? That would be awfully overspecialized. Whatever I am now, I'm certainly not something that should be able to live...if I can still be considered to be alive, that is. It's a strange thing to think about.

With that said, I'm still hungry and it looks like Monika isn't going to eat her last cupcake...Don't mind if I do...

"Hey, Yuri...I think we need to talk. Again. No bullshit this time either." - Natsuki says as she wipes the blood on her mouth. Honestly, I didn't expect her to eat it, but I can handle such gruesome scenes...I'm actually curious about their taste...

"Later...At night..." - I drawl, something I'm not pleased with. I'm sure she'll understand why I want to leave this conversation for later.

"...Fine. Just don't try to avoid the subject or anything. It's important." - she says after a drawn out sigh.

With a cupcake in my mouth, I think of what she was probably wanted to talk about. We are certainly not mentally stable. While I still haven't figured out what triggers it, I can say for sure that it's related to what we are now. I don't know what exactly Natsuki goes through, but when...it happens, it doesn't feel like someone else is in control. It's more like I start thinking differently, but it feels completely natural until I'm back to normal. It's as if I always was an obnoxiously arrogant and needlessly cruel beast with complete disregard for all life except I never was like this. One would think of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde or werewolves in general, but it's not like that at all.

It would be a good idea to inform Kazuki of this, but something holds me back. I can only assume that it's fear of rejection, but I've been through this enough times to get used to it, however unfortunate that is. I don't see anything that would make this situation any different...aside from what happened to me, that is. I have a place I can call home too, so, I could just leave whenever I wanted to. However, there's something holding me here and I still haven't figured it out. It's not the same feeling I had when offered the choice to go to school again, but it's still something I can't explain.

"Um, guys? You've got to see this." - Kazuki shouts from his bedroom. He doesn't sound like he's about to panic, so it's probably nothing truly important. Natsuki exchanges glances with me and we go to the bedroom.

Needless to say, what we see on the screen isn't very surprising.

"It's...us..." - I mutter as the first post is displayed on Kazuki's monitor. 'So...where's Kimihito?' is written there. The quality of my photo seems much lower than on Natsuki's, so, these were taken by different people.

"Yeah, no shit. Hey, check those comments out...or maybe not..." - Natsuki says and...well, none of them surprise me either.

'First!'

'It look great and all, but who the fuck are they supposed to be cosplaying as?'

'spiders don't have antennae'

'I'd tap that.'

"I'd squeeze those honkers, but I'm afraid she'd bite my hands off if I tried to"

"I think I've seen the small one somewhere before..."

'The dragon girl is looking kinda ret-'

"Can you scroll down a bit?" - Natsuki asks, clearly annoyed by what she's reading, and Kazuki complies. He keeps scrolling until he reaches a post with what appears to be a video.

'The pink-haired girl's classmate here, I can confirm that this is all very real. Take a look at this.'

The video shows Natsuki surrounded by her classmates. I can barely hear anyone in the video, but I don't think it's important. Twenty seconds later, Natsuki opens her mouth like she did when she attacked me. She keeps it open long enough for whoever recorded this to show the viewer what her mouth looks like on the inside. I don't remember seeing teeth in her throat, but then again, I was paying more attention to her mouth so I could close it properly.

"...Natsuki?" - I call her out, waiting for an explanation with the best stern expression I can make in my current state. Honestly, that was reckless. She shouldn't have drawn so much attention to herself.

"Um, well, you see, I...Okay, I've got nothing." - she confesses, cowering under my scrutinizing gaze. I don't know what it looks like from her point of view, but I can imagine what it would look like with my eyes. I suppose I should feel sorry for her?

"To be fair, it could have been worse. You could have been caught by some top secret organization and kept in specialized cages for the rest of your lives or something." - Kazuki says, but I don't think it improves anything.

"Where's Monika anyway?" - Natsuki asks.

"In the bathroom" - Kazuki replies. It's been a while since she went there.

"...I don't think...she's going to like this...unless it helps make the literature club...more popular...in some roundabout way." - I say. She's been quite desperate to get more members if her idea with the festival is anything to go by, so, I wouldn't be surprised if she ended up using us as some sort of bait.

"I bet the festival is going to be a doozy..." - Natsuki mumbles.

"Oh...right...Kazuki, could you...buy something?" - I ask. I can't go outside like this and I don't want to draw any more attention to myself, so, someone else has to buy what I need for the festival.

"Um, sure? Just write down a list for me and I'll buy it." - he replies and I nod before leaving the room.

My goal is to create a unique and unforgettable atmosphere for whoever decides to stop by. An experience that will leave them wanting more...um, in a good way. Essential oils should work well for that. Maybe Jasmine? It enhances one's emotions and helps you feel them flow through your body...hm...Yes, that will be perfect for sharing our poems. But first, we'll need something to disperse it...Ah, there's so much to think of...

"Okay, everyone! I'm sorry, but now it's time for me to take my leave. I'll be back tomorrow, so, don't worry about having to do all of this by yourself. See you!" - I hear Monika say. A sound of the door opening and closing follows soon after.

* * *

Finally, the moon shines down upon me and I am free to do as I please. Unfortunately, Kazuki is already in his bed, so, he cannot assist me. I can make the curtains and the banner all by myself, but for some reasons, it doesn't feel right without him. Oh well, if I'll need company, I can ask Natsuki to help me. She has nothing to do at the moment and she has yet to go to bed. I'm not sure when she's supposed to be sleeping, but it seems to be relatively normal compared to me.

Speaking of Natsuki, we must have a talk. I can't delay it any further. I look for the littl-I mean the girl and find her in the kitchen, but it doesn't look like she's doing anything important.

"Um...so, what did you want to talk about?" - I ask despite knowing exactly what she wanted to discuss.

"Well...I think it's obvious at this point that we've got some screws loose in our heads. It doesn't matter whatever the fuck causes it. We either fix this or pack our things and run as far as we can without looking back. We can't let anyone be hurt if we go apeshit or something. We're going to tell him about it and we do it together. For real" - she replies.

"...I don't think that's a good idea." - I say. She doesn't look happy to hear it.

"Oh? And why do you think it isn't?" - she asks with her arms crossed.

"Just...What are we going to accomplish? Even if he doesn't abandon us, there's still nothing he can do. Even if there is a wizard out there who can help us, what are the odds of finding him?" - I reply, slightly more agitated for my liking.

"Y-You are right, but...but..." - she tries to counter, but it looks like she has nothing to say.

"All we're going to accomplish is making him wary of us. Eventually, mere caution will turn into fear as he sees it happen more and more frequently and that's when things get ugly." - I continue.

"...Then what are we supposed to do? Keep our mouths shut? That doesn't sound right either." - she finally retorts.

"I...I don't know...We can only hope that we'll figure it out before we become a threat...Either way, we shouldn't make him worry about us. We've overstayed his welcome as it is." - I reply.

"...Fine. But if something goes wrong, you can bet your ass I will never let you live it down." - she says before leaving the kitchen.

This conversation didn't take as much time as I thought it would. She didn't fight back as fiercely as she usually does, which is something that bothers me the most. She kept going even when she had no viable argument, but this? This isn't like her at all. I shouldn't be so insistent on keeping him oblivious to our real problems either. I didn't feel like either one of us lost control again...What's going on?


	14. Better safe than sorry

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Monika's POV.

It's already past midnight and I still can't sleep. There's just...so much to think about.

I'm glad that I've got them back on track, but it seems that it's not enough for them to simply prepare for the festival. However, I cannot make them follow the script to a T. They have already grown attached to the protagonist as their programming dictates, so, they aren't going to leave his house anytime soon.

That aside, I have no idea how much the foreign files influence them. I've already partially modified their files before I got that stupid idea, but even then, Natsuki shouldn't so nonchalantly eat a spider. To think that this is what I've turned my friend into...it's disgusting...But there's nothing that can be done about that now and It's not like what I've done with Sayori was any better. I mean...her prolonged death was her fault and I simply wanted to get her out of the picture instead of having her straight up kill herself, but still.

Ah, it was so much easier when I could simply tweak some things and let it all play out like I wanted it to, but the best part of it was knowing everything that would happen in advance. Unfortunately, I can no longer predict anything or modify any of the game's assets. Somehow, the game seems to be...evolving? Mutating? Either way, it's growing out of control. All I'm sure of is that it has something to do with the foreign files and the game's ability to rearrange itself to keep things going smoothly.

All things considered, the game shouldn't be able to modify itself to make up for things like missing characters, but I didn't even have to do much to fix the mess left after I deleted Sayori. Everything mentioning her was removed quickly, including memories of her. Fortunately, I was not affected. It's a very convenient feature, but it's still scary to think about. Anyone could simply open the right folder, click on your file and delete you. Nobody would even realize that you're gone. Nobody would miss you. Nobody would try to bring you back. THAT is how meaningless our existence is.

...Maybe I should have deleted myself when I had the chance...

...but then I wouldn't meet him...

...I must see him...

...he is the only thing that matters...

* * *

While I am certainly not happy about being a video game character with full awareness of it, I can appreciate some things I've been given. Everything being so close to each other is one of such things. It doesn't take much time to reach school or, in this case, Kazuki's house.

And so I knock on the door. This time, Kazuki opens the door. A bland player-insert character or not, at least he doesn't make me wait for long.

"Oh, um, hello, Monika." - he greets me.

"Hi, Kazuki? May I enter?" - I greet him in response, doing my best to appear friendly.

"Ah, sure! Come in." - he says before taking my bag and I can already smell it...

Once I enter his house, I head towards the living room. When I enter it, I see Yuri in the middle of the room and approach her. She's reading something instead of sleeping like she did yesterday, but she still looks drowsy. Well, at least she didn't forget to change out of her school uniform. Now she's wearing the outfit from her out of school scenes. Obviously I don't know how it actually feels, but her pants don't look comfortable with that tail in the way.

"Hello, Yuri. What are you reading?" - I ask her. That seems to startle her and I have to move out of the way before she can cut my head off with her wings. I shouldn't forget that she and Natsuki are dangerous monsters even if they don't try to eat anyone...for now at least...

"Hello, Ms. Club President!" - she greets me after folding her wings. She didn't answering my question.

"No need to be so formal when we're not in the literature club. Just Monika would be fine!...By the way, can I...how should I say it...Can I touch your wings?" - I ask. It sounds really awkward, but I'm curious.

"Um...sure?" - she says and I waste no time to grab her wings. I expected them to feel rough, but they are much smoother. Almost like human skin, but you can tell that they are covered with scales without having to see them and it's much colder...Jeez, these mucles...I'm sure many would admire and envy them if they were on her arms instead...

"Can you spread them out? I want to touch their membranes too, but it's much harder to do when they are folded." - I ask.

"J-Just...be gentle...I don't know...how durable they are." - she replies and I nod despite being out of her field of vision...Hm...It's actually not much different from the rest of her wings. I didn't expect anything else, but they are pretty nice. Now then...

"Could you fold them again? And please try not to move." - I ask her and she complies. I touch the blades on the fingers of her wings and they feel more like steel than bones. I see no need to test how sharp they are. After all, I was the one who had to explain the damage done to the classroom by Yuri and Natsuki.

"...A...Are you done?" - she asks, obviously uncomfortable, but hey, I'm responsible for this mess and even if she is the one who actually has to bear this burden, I still feel like I can do this.

"Just one more thing! Can I...Can I touch your tail?" - I ask and she hesitates. Fortunately, I know how to persuade her and one very sad face later, she lets me do it. It feels rougher as my hands moves closer to its tip...huh. Now that is closer to what I expected. I wonder how heavy it is? It should have shifted her center of gravity, but I don't think it should have any effect on her considering how strong she is. With her strength in mind, one swing with this thing should be able to break bones...Why is her tail getting s-

"M-M-M-MONIKA?!" - Yuri suddenly yelps and pushes me away.

Oh. Looks like I kept moving my hand absentmindedly and ended up going from the tip of her tail back to...W-Well, she isn't real and therefore I have nothing to be ashamed of...Yeah. That would be like getting ashamed of doing something weird in your dreams when you know that none of it was real, right?...Right?

"Ahaha, sorry about that. Anyway, are you done with your part?" - I ask her, trying to change subjects as soon as possible.

"...Ah...Yes...I'm almost done...Needs to dry first..." - she replies. Her face looks almost pink now.

"Good! I'm almost done with my part too. Well then, I'll leave you alone for now." - I say and try to leave the room as quickly as I can.

Well...that was awkward, but now I want to know what it feels like to touch Natsuki, hopefully without losing track of my hands. Then again, I doubt she's going to let me touch her anyway.

...Yeah, I should get back on track now. For all I know, he is still watching and I just...Oh my...You're not watching me...are you?!

"What happened? Are you alright?" - Kazuki as-when did he get so close?!

"I'M FINE!" - I reply, a little bit too loud to my or his liking.

"...uh...Okay? Well, I've got something to discuss with Yuri, so, if you need something, you'll know where to...Oh, right. It shouldn't be hard to find me in my own house." - he says, scratching the back of his head when he realizes how useless that information is.

"I'll keep that in mind...Wait...Can we go outside for a bit?" - I ask. There's something I want to ask.

"Yeah, sure. Why?" - he asks in response.

"I'll tell you once we're there!" - I say as I push him towards the door and take my bag on our way out. In a few seconds, we are out of his house.

I'm not sure if this is actually going to help me keep this conversation private. Maybe Yuri or Natsuki can hear us even here? Maybe Natsuki even uses her spiders to keep track of everything?

"So, now what?" - he asks with a confused expression on his face.

"Why are you helping them? I'm talking about Yuri and Natsuki." - I ask in response.

"Why wouldn't I?" - he replies. I never liked it when people reply to questions with their own questions.

"Why would you? I mean you barely knew them. It's been less than three days and yet you still decided to give them a shelter." - I reply.

"Aren't you forgetting something? That was your idea! N-Not that I was against it or that I'm against it now, but...I just couldn't leave them." - he says, but it still doesn't quite convince me.

"...Are you just trying to get la-"

"What?! NO! I'm just trying to be nice! It's the right thing to do, isn't it?" - he interrupts me...Jesus Christ, he is such a generic main character, but at least he's nice. A bit dumb at times, but still nice.

"Okay then...Still, I think there's something I must give you. Better safe than sorry, right?" - I say before pulling the item in question out of my bag. It's something I spawned back when I still could do that and I have another copy back at home, so, I don't hesitate to give it to him.

"What is this?" - he says before unwrapping it. As soon as he sees the gleaming metal underneath, he freezes and looks at me.

"Just make sure not to let see it, okay?" - I say as I lean towards him. He remains silent for a minute. I hope he understood why I gave him that thing.

"I...Let's just go back inside." - he says before opening the door and entering his house. I follow him until he enters his bedroom and I go to the kitchen instead.

We can't let potential new members bite a cupcake and find a spider's bloody corpse sticking out of it, can we?


	15. Three is a crowd, four is a mess

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Kazuki's POV

Why the fuck did she give me a loaded gun? Where did she even get it? Our town is relatively safe, so, there's no real need to have such weapons and if you decide to get one, you'll have to go through a lot just to have the right to carry it. I've never heard of her marksmanship, so, I doubt it's something she uses for fun. She doesn't seem to be the type of person who would illegally own a gun either.

...She doesn't trust them, does she? She told me not to let them see it and it's obviously not a toy gun. I'm not going to need it, but I can't really throw it away either. Who knows what will happen to it. For all I know, some asshole will pick it up and put others in danger. I can't let that happen. I guess my bedroom should be a good hiding place for it.

How can she keep smiling when talking about things like these anyway? Sometimes, she feels even less human than Yuri and Natsuki in their current state. If she suddenly removes her face to reveal dozens of tentacles beneath, I wouldn't even be surprised...but I still hope that's not going to happen.

...I guess letting the matter drop is the best course of actions for now.

We're almost done with the preparations and I'm happy about it. I wish I was more useful though. Natsuki didn't let me help her...for good reasons and Yuri was too sleepy to even tell me what to do without losing track of everything and so she decided to do everything herself when I was sleeping. Of course, Monika didn't need any help either. In the end, I didn't really do much. That just doesn't feel right to me.

Festival preparations aside, there's something that's obviously been bothering them for a while now, but I can't figure out what it is. Asking them about it gave no results as they either said that everything is fine or simply dodged the question. That's even more frustrating. It's certainly something important, but they refuse to let me help them here too. They don't know me well, sure, but is that really a good reason to leave me in the dark?

"Thinking about something?" - Natsuki asks. I haven't even noticed her leave the kitchen. She seems to be carrying the same bag Monika had.

"Yeah..." - I reply with a nod.

"Look, if you're still mad at me for giving you that cupcake, I c-"

"What? No, that's not what I was thinking about and even then, that wasn't why I was upset. The problem was you eating it afterwards." - I interrupt her. I still can't get the taste of blood out of my mouth.

"I don't see anything wrong with it. They told me it's the right thing to do and I did it." - she says, clearly agitated.

"Who are y- You know what? I'm not going to ask. I'm just going to assume it's something I wouldn't understand anyway." - I say in response. I shouldn't forget that they aren't humans anymore. That doesn't mean I'm not going to treat them well of course.

"...Anyway, that isn't why I'm here...I'm bored, you know? My spiders can handle baking on their own now and, as interesting as it is to watch them do it, I don't really like sitting on my ass and watching others do something." - Natsuki says after a long pause. I think I know where this is going.

"But what are you going to read? You said you didn't like most of my manga and your collection was...you know..." - I ask.

"Oh, well, that's where Monika comes in! She bought me some the stuff I lost. Yeah, it's surprising considering that she's not exactly fond of manga even if she tries not to say anything about it, but hey, I'm not complaining." - she replies. Huh. That's nice.

"So, you want me to help you read again?" - I ask.

"...yes." - she replies once she makes sure no one is looking. It's kind of pointless all things considered, but I'm not going to say anything.

"Alright, alright." - I say as I take the bag from her hands and we go to the living room.

As always, Yuri is sitting in the middle of it, struggling to read her book. I don't think I've seen her read this one before. I'd like to ask what she's reading, but I don't want to interrupt her. She's got enough problems as it is. Judging by the cover, it's another one of her horror books.

I decide to sit on the couch, but it quickly turns out to be a bad idea as Natsuki can't comfortably sit on it. While she doesn't have a long tail like Yuri, what she has is still enough to make it troublesome and so we end up sitting on the floor next to Yuri. Once she curls her extra limbs around her body, I start taking volumes of manga out of the bag. That's more than what I expected.

"So, what do you want to start with?" - I ask, making sure to keep my voice as quiet as possible. Even if Yuri would say that it's not a big deal, it still doesn't feel right.

"Let's see...Ah, this one..." - she almost shouts, but manages to keep it down at the last second.

"I haven't seen this one yet..." - I whisper. The cover is as colorful as it gets, but that doesn't really say much. 'Don't judge the book by its cover' and all.

And it certainly turned out to be one hell of a trip. Not the "all these magical girls are actually horrifying abominations one mental breakdown away from turning into monsters" kind of trip, but a trip nonetheless. I guess "emotional rollercoaster" is a good way to describe it. That aside, it's still weird watching Natsuki's eyes "move" when I know that they simply change color to mimic movement. I wonder what that looks like on her end. There's also the problem with her hands, something she keeps mentioning quite often.

"By the way, when you say that your hands aren't fit for this, what do you mean by that?" - I finally ask.

"Oh, it's simple. See these? Well, even if I don't touch anything with the tips of my fingers, it's still very easy to shred paper with these. I'm sure I would give you a few cuts even if I simply slapped you." - she replies.

"That does sound troublesome." - I say...Was Yuri this close to us before?

"Oh yes, it's a royal pain in the ass. You should have seen me when I tried to write something in an exercise book. Now that was a disaster!" - she says. I can already imagine what it looked like.

"I see. Now, what do you want to read next?" - I ask.

"Eh, let's go for this one. I was going to read it a few days ago, but you know how that went." - she replies.

This one turned out to be rather bizarre, but much more simple than what we had read before. And it looks like I was right. Yuri got closer to us at some point. We chose not to say anything, but I could clearly see Natsuki grin when she saw her try to read the manga. Did she get curious? Or did she decide to read with us because it's easier to do in her state than reading one of her doorstoppers?

Eventually, Monika joined us too. I didn't see her enter the room, so, she knows how to remain unnoticed, but she's not even subtle about reading with us. How can I tell? Well, her head is resting on mine and it's pretty heavy. Heavy with knowledge of "antediluvian manuscripts", I presume. I bet she has that smile on her face too.

Either way, the whole thing got really awkward in no time at all, but nobody said anything about it. Only the sound of Yuri tail thumping the floor keeps the house from being completely silent. I don't know for how long they've known each other, but I certainly don't know them well enough to be that close to them. It's getting really hot here with all these girls around me.

"Hey, this guy looks almost exactly like Kazuki!" - Monika suddenly points out...Wait, what?!

"She is right..." - Yuri says before realizing that she exposed herself.

"No he doesn't! I mean...he's just a generic main character!" - I retort indignantly.

"Oh, if only you knew..." - Monika says cryptically.

"Come on, guys! Kazuki totally looks cuter!" - Natsuki blurts out. The room falls silent. Everyone's eyes are fixed on her.

"Na-"

"If you say anything, I swear I'm going to eat you." - Natsuki interrupts Monika with a threat, but the latter still keeps smiling.

"...Can we just go back to reading?" - I suggest.

"But how can we read it...if manga isn't literature?" - Monika asks and all hell breaks loose.

"FUCKING MONIKA!" - Natsuki screeches as she tries to grab the culprit, but Monika dodges in time and runs away. Natsuki doesn't even bother standing up and simply uses her spider legs to chase after the club president. I'm surprised she doesn't damage the floor by running like this. If I didn't know better, I'd say Monika is about to meet a grim end, but I know them both well enough not to worry about it...or at least I hope so. I don't know them that well.

"How often does this happen?" - I ask, but Yuri doesn't respond. It's like she stopped thinking or something.

...I'm not sure if joining the literature club was a good idea or a horrible one...


	16. Yuri Airlines

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Natsuki's POV.
> 
> Somehow, this is the longest chapter yet. This could be a good thing considering what comes next.

"Monika! Get back here! I might even consider showing mercy if you surrender!" - I yell, trying my best to sound really angry.

I'm not actually mad at her, but hey, I've got all this energy that goes nowhere. Might as well do something with it. Plus I have the urge to kick her ass for all the shit she pulled before like putting my stuff where I can't reach it. Sure, it was nice when she gave me part of my lost collection, but that's not quite enough.

"Monika!...Monika? Come on, I'm not actually going to  **EAT.**   **YO-** KEE!"

Suddenly, I feel something heavy land on me. I don't have to look to know that it's the club president herself. Yeah, this is how I die. Crushed like a fucking Goomba. Man, if I knew this was going to be the ending, I wouldn't have signed up for this shit.

"Tag! You're it!" - Monika says before getting off my back and running away.

Okay, maybe death can wait until I get my hands around her thin neck. Where the fuck was she anyway? I couldn't see her anywhere. It's not like she could just disappear like a ghost...r-right? I mean...if Yuri and I turned into monsters, then why would she still be human?...Nah, I'm overthinking it. Besides, Kazuki is still fine.

"You...bitch..." - I try to shout, but it comes out as something closer to a chirp than anything threatening.

That's how it always goes with her. First she does something stupid, then I get angry and calm down in a few minutes. She's not always like this and she's actually okay in my book  **EVEN. IF. SHE. IS. A. LITTLE. BIT. TOO. THIN. TO. OUR. TASTE** , but that's exactly what drives me mad. I swear one of these days...No, I'm not going to give her the reaction she wants. I've got other things to do aside from losing my marbles over Monika.

It takes a few minutes, but I manage to calm down completely. I should take care of my anger issues at some point in the future. Well, that and...

Now that I think about it...I completely forgot about my phone. Something tells me I shouldn't check my messages or call history. I'd rather not read any of it. It's not like I have to see him ever again unless he decides to pay me a visit in school, but I never told him where it is and I really doubt he gives a fuck about where I study as long as I do it. I think it's safe to say at this point that turning into some kind of freak of nature isn't such a bad thing...Wait...I remember wishing upon a star for something like this...Does it actually work?

...No, that doesn't explain why it happened in such a weird way or why Yuri was affected as well. I don't think we'll ever find out how or why it happened. Not that it matters anyway. Honestly, if it wasn't for my hands or the whole thing with losing control from time to time, I wouldn't mind it at all.

When I come back to the living room, I see Kazuki still sitting in the same spot.  **WHAT. IS. THERE. NOT. TO. LOVE. ABOUT. HIM?**...Anyway, I think I had enough for the day. While the sun hasn't set yet, I still feel like I need some rest.

"Ah, you're back. We were worried about you." - he says and I can see why they would be worried about me.

"I'm fine. Just a little tired. I think we should continue this reading session later. Hopefully with less readers." - I say before taking my usual spot on the couch. I am free to sleep on his bed, but the couch feels much better. I also don't want to accidentally ruin his bed.

"OKay then. I'll leave you be." - he says before leaving the room. Yuri is still there, but I know that she's not going to make much noise.

* * *

_The weather is great today_

_Not a single cloud in the light blue sky_

_As I turn another page, I look around the classroom_

_Friends_

_I can't imagine my life without them_

_This is my safe haven_

_Nothing can hurt me_

_And yet, the door opens_

_He is here_

_**HE. CAME. TO. SLAY. US. FOR. GLORY.** _

_**HE. TASTED. SOUR.** _

_**AN. OLD. MAN. ENTERED. OUR. DOMAIN.** _

_**HE. WAS. MERELY. PASSING. THROUGH.** _

_**HE. REEKED. OF. DEATH. AND. WE. LEFT. HIM. ALONE.** _

_**A. WOMAN. WITH. A. CHILD. ENTERED. OUR. DOMAIN.** _

_**THEY. NEEDED. SHELTER. BUT. WE. DID. NOT. LIKE. HER. FACE.** _

_**SHE. TASTED. BITTER.** _

_**A. LITTLE. GIRL. ENTERED. OUR. DOMAIN.** _

_**SHE.** **GOT. LOST. AND. WE. WANTED. TO. PLAY.** _

_**SHE. WAS. SO. SWEET. AND. SO. FRAGILE.** _

_**A. YOUNG. MAN. ENTERS. OUR. DOMAIN.** _

_**HE. KNOWS. US.** _

_**WE. KNOW. HIM.** _

* * *

I wake up. What was that dream all about? I had weird dreams before, but none of them were as clear as this one...well, the first part was somewhat blurry, but the second felt almost real. I'm actually grateful for that sudden change even if it was pretty violent. I really didn't want to see what that fucker would do even if it's all just a dream.

Well, looks like it's nighttime already. I didn't expect to sleep for so long, but now I feel better. It's almost as if Monika didn't jump on me. And so I get up from the couch and start wandering around the house. Monika should be gone by now and Kazuki is most likely sleeping, so, that leaves only Yuri.

I can't find her anywhere in the house, which means she's outside again. I don't think she spent even a single night here without going out for a flight. I can't really blame her. If I could fly freely, I would do the same thing. With that said, I go outside. Just as I expected, she is there, standing on the roof like some kind of a superhero. While there is wind to blow her hair around, Kazuki's house is not tall enough and this isn't the right kind of town for this, so, the atmosphere isn't quite right. Plus she looks more like a villain with her current appearance.

It doesn't take me much time or effort to climb up to the roof. I try not to get too close to her before starting a conversation so the height difference wouldn't matter much. I really don't feel like having to look up all the time. It was bad enough before, but now she's like what, 7'5"?

"Hey there. Got anything on your mind?" - I ask and she almost falls off when she hears my voice.

"N-No...I'm just...It just feels so good to simply stand there and let the moon shine down upon me..." - she replies. A long pause follows. Looks like I have to keep the conversation going myself.

"So, when are you going to take flight?" - I ask. I never actually saw her take off, so, I want to see it. Either that or...

"Oh, um, I can do it right now. I have more than enough time on my hands. Why do you ask?" - she asks in response.

"...Can I tag along?" - I ask. Seeing her fly is one thing, but actually knowing what it feels like is another. Even if it won't be the full experience, I still want to give it a shot.

"Sure. I didn't know you could fly though." - she replies as she tries to find anything on my body that could allow me to fly.

"What? That's not what I mean. Can't you...like...carry me or something?" - I ask, trying not to make it sound awkward.

"I can...but that would take more effort from me...so..." - she replies and I really don't like the expression on her face. While her subtle smile isn't anything to worry about, her eyes tell a different story.

"...So?" - I repeat.

"So I want some form of compensation for this. I-It's nothing you can't afford, so, don't worry! There's just..." - she tries to say something, but it seems that she can't put it into words. Eh, I'll take this risk.

"Whatever it is, I'm fine with it. You can tell me what you want later. Now let's just get to the fun part!" - I say, eager to get on the ride...wait, that doesn't sound right...

"Okay?...Uh...how are we going to do this?" - she asks and that's something I didn't think of...hm...

"I think I have an idea, but it might be awkward." - I reply. When I receive no answer, I beckon her to come closer. Once she's close enough, I sit down with my legs pressed against my chest and my extra legs folded in a way that would let her hold me without problems. They are supposed to be able to carry my weight on their own, so, I don't think they are going to snap off in the middle of her flight.

"...I see. Very well. Prepare yourself." - she says before grabbing me by my makeshift handles.

And oh boy, I really should have listened to her when she told me to prepare myself. I didn't expect her to jump up so high with such high speed. I didn't even hear her flap her wings. I try my best not to uncurl and make Yuri drop me. Of course, it gets even harder to keep my shit together when she actually starts flying. She's like a fucking fighter jet or something. I can barely breathe when she's moving so fast. Even if I can hold my breath for several minutes, I still need oxygen. Eventually, she notices that and stops.

"Ah! I-I'm sorry! I-I-I forgot about that!" - she apologizes, but I don't pay much attention to it.

"Yuri...that was FUCKING AWES- OH SHIT!" - I shout when I decide to extend my arms and legs out like a dumbass and almost make us fall. Fortunately, that doesn't happen. Thank you, Yuri.

"Na-What th- Be careful!" - she yells and I go back into my spider bag pose.

"I'm sorry..." - I mumble. I can't see her face due to my pose, but I can easily imagine her glare.

"...So, do you want to continue? I can go back to his house if you want to." - she asks after a long pause.

"Nah, it's fine. Just don't forget to stop every now and then, will you?" - I reply. In a few seconds, she resumes her flight, but she is obviously slower now. It's not quite as exciting, but at least I don't have to worry about my face getting torn apart anymore.

* * *

"No." - I say. I can imagine the look on my face right now.

"But you said you were fine with it." - she reminds me.

"Yes, but...Where did you even get this thing? Why do you still have it?" - I ask, totally not trying to delay anything.

"A-I-Well y-I told you not to ask!" - she replies with a pink hue on her face. I do remember her telling me that a few days ago, but that was before I actually found out what she was talking about.

"I have a very good reason to ask, Yuri! You told me that it's something fancy looking, but a fucking black victorian dress? Really?! Who wouldn't ask where it came from?...Uh, fine!" - I finally give up. If she told me that this is what she wanted, I wouldn't have agreed!...I think...Well, it was a good experience, but...

Why does she want to see me wear it anyway?


	17. The day of the festival

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Kazuki's POV.

_A bare classroom surrounded by nothing_

_A lone girl sitting at the sole desk_

_A whole world of lies_

_Shattered dreams_

_Broken heart_

_Empty eyes_

_No escape_

_..._

_Where are_ _you_ _?_

* * *

Today is a very important day...or that's what Monika wants me to think. I don't really care about getting new members for the club and it's not like I joined them because I'm actually interested in literature. Still, I can't leave her on her own and it might be fun. I'm not confident in my poems or my ability to recite them, but it's worth giving a shot. Besides, the poem I chose was something I found online, so, that's half the problem gone.

I get up and leave my bedroom. It doesn't take me long to find Natsuki and Yuri, who have already prepared for the school, leaving me the only one who's not ready.

"Well, are you ready for the festival?" - I ask, still a big groggy, but not enough for it to be troublesome.

"Yeah! It might be a little early to say it, but I'm sure we've got it in the bag." - Natsuki replies. Yuri merely nods in response.

Still, they look pretty anxious about this whole thing. Yuri is even shaking a little. I don't think I've seen her like this before. Then again, it's been only a week since I met them.

Fortunately, I don't have to worry about us carrying everything we prepared for the festival as Monika took everything yesterday, but we'll still have to set everything up in the classroom once we're there. The atmosphere must be just right, but we also need to keep practicality in mind. Natsuki's cupcakes are our bait, so, they must be somewhere where it would be easy to spot them from the entrance. Once someone enters, that's where Yuri's atmospheric enhancements come into play. Even if it won't work on everyone, people should feel like staying there for a bit. I'm not sure when exactly we're going to start the performance, but it should encourage some to join and try it out themselves.

With that said, I think it's safe to assume that Yuri and Natsuki are going to attract people too. Someone revealed that they are a part of the literature club and you don't see someone like them every day, so, someone is bound to take a look just because they are a part of it. Then again, going by what Yuri said on Friday, some might want to avoid it completely because of her alone. I still don't know what caused it, but if Monika is fine now, maybe it won't be a problem? Still, I hope that nobody is going to try doing anything they aren't comfortable with.

Ah, I think I should leave such thoughts for later. I've got breakfast to worry about. We can't really work on an empty stomach, right?

* * *

"Oh, hello there, Kazuki! You're the first one here. Thanks for being early!" - Monika greets me as I enter the classroom. Natsuki and Yuri went on their own

"Hi, Monika. Is there anything left to be done for the festival?" - I ask. It doesn't look like it.

"Not really. Almost everything is ready. I just need to place these at every desk." - she says as she points at little booklets on her desk. They must be the ones she prepared that has all the poems we're performing. We didn't have much time to practice, but I'm sure we can handle it.

"Good to know." - I say.

"Hey, do you want to check out the pamphlets? They came out really nice!" - she asks. I see no reason not to check them out.

"Yeah, sure." - I reply as I grab one of the pamphlets laid out on the desk.

"What do you think of them?" - she asks.

"They really did come out nice. Something like this will definitely help people take the club more seriously." - I reply. I expected something...cheaper? Well, this is a nice surprise.

"Yeah, I thought so too!" - she says. She's really looking forward to the festival, isn't she?

I flip through the pages. Each member's poem is neatly printed on its own page, giving it an almost professional feel. I recognize Natsuki's and Yuri's poems here. I didn't really get an opportunity to read most of them thanks to whatever happened a few days ago, but that might not be a bad thing. I want to hear them recite their poems.

I turn my head towards the door when I hear it swing open. I see Natsuki standing in the door way.

"Hello, Monika! Are we ready to get things started?" - she asks. Judging by her antennae, she is excited.

"Hello, Natsuki! Yeah, we're almost done. You can take your seat for now. There's still some time left." - Monika replies as she points at one of the desks.

"Alright. Oh, by the way, have you seen Yuri? I can't find her." - Natsuki asks as she looks around the classroom.

"I haven't seen her either. Maybe she has something to take care of? Whatever it is, I hope it's not going to take too much time" - Monika replies.

"That's weird. I haven't been here for long, but she doesn't seem to be the kind of person who would be late. It must be something important." - I say. I hope she's alright.

"...Well, why don't we practice for our performance until she comes? As weird as it is, we can't just waste time." - Monika suggests. I guess that's a good idea, bu-

A blood-curdling scream draws our attention. While that should be alarming on its own, the roar that follows soon after worries me more. I've heard it before and so I can recognize its owner. It's Yuri. And so, with no time to waste, I run out of the classroom towards the source of these sounds. In a matter of seconds, I reach the water fountain.

Among dozens of other students, I see Yuri standing over a girl. I don't recognize her, but the deep cuts on her face and Yuri's foot on the girl's chest are more than enough.

"What's wrong? Where's all that bravado you had mere minutes ago? Haven't your parents told you that it's rude to talk behind somebody's back?" - she asks as she twists her foot, making the girl underneath squirm. Blood drips from the claws on her right hand.

"What the fuck are you doing?!" - I yell at Yuri. That makes her stop and step off the girl before licking the blood off her claws.

"Who dares to speak?" - she asks as she turns around to face me. Her glare is as frightening as it was a few days ago.

Aside from her appearance and voice, this isn't like Yuri at all. Her manner of speech, posture and movements are completely different. With her wings spread, arms crossed over her chest and head slightly tilted up, she exudes an air of superiority and arrogance. She seems to be even bigger now, but I can tell that it has nothing to do with her actual size.

Somehow, despite everything that happened, nobody even tries to move from their spots. They don't even try to run away. It's exactly like what happened to Monika when Yuri entered the classroom on Friday.

"Kneel." - she commands and everyone around me suddenly collapses onto the floor. For some reasons, Yuri seems surprised.

"What has gotten into you?" - I ask, doing my best not to let fear and confusion get to me.

"...How are you still standing? Tell me, Kazuki, what do you expect to gain from helping that bitch? She is at fault here." - she asks, completely ignoring what I said. When she receives no response, she starts walking towards me. I try to back away when she gets too close, but she proves to be faster as she roughly grabs my neck.

"Y-Yuri?" - I wheeze out. While she doesn't tighten her grip, it's still enough to make breathing difficult.

"...What...is this feeling?...You...You're the one responsible for this, aren't you?!" - she suddenly shouts and yet I feel the pressure on my neck decrease. What's going on?!

As if things couldn't get any weirder, her hand suddenly goes from holding my neck to caressing my cheek and her expression shifts from anger to...joy? Whatever it is, that smile is too wide to be humanly possible. Then again, she isn't a human.

"I...I don't know what it is, but you're the one causing it...When I look at you...When I touch you...It gets stronger and...I cannot resist it...Gah! What the hell did you do to me?!" - she suddenly recoils as if she touched a hot stove. Disgust is clearly written on her face.

"W-What are y-"

An ear-piercing shriek interrupts me as she starts clawing at her own face. I get away from her when she starts flapping her wings and flailing her tail wildly to avoid getting cut into ribbons. Needless to say, the sight is just as disgusting as it is bizarre. Numerous deep cuts line her face and yet the blood oozing out of them doesn't drop. It simply hovers in the air before vaporizing.

" **NO!**   **This...isn't right! I'm sorry! I'm so sorry!** " - she apologizes before running away. Unfortunately, she's too fast for me to chase her.

In a few moments, the silence is broken by the sound of heavy breathing all around me. This is what Yuri was talking about, isn't it? What happened to her anyway? I've never seen her act like this.

"Kazuki! What happened?" - I hear Monika ask. I didn't notice her arrival.

But before I can turn to face her, something pierces my back. In mere seconds, everything loses cohesion and fades to black.


	18. Mother of a Thousand Young, BAD_DATA Part 1

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> While it should be Yuri's turn, I couldn't do much when she has no one to interact with. What I originally wanted to write is still a thing, but now it happens off-screen and the results will be revealed later. All things considered, it might be better that way.
> 
> With that said, it's Kazuki's POV again.

I wake up with a severe headache. All I see is a mass of blurry shapes of different colors, but I know my bed well enough to recognize it. Unless someone moved it outside, this means that I'm back home. I don't remember walking back here and I still very clearly remember what happened before the festival even began. Aside from the softness of my bed and my blanked, there's something else I register. It's faint, but I can hear it. It's something between the sound of chattering teeth and a growl.

My vision is clearing up, but it's not good enough for me to tell anything yet. All I can see is that the room is very dark and there's something in front of me. It's above the floor, but I don't see anything connecting it to the ceiling either. Then again, it might be too thin for me to see it until my sight is restored completely.

"AH! YOU. ARE. FINALLY. AWAKE. DARLING! WE. THOUGHT. WE. WENT. OVERBOARD. WITH. THE. POISON. AND. YOU. WERE. A. GONER! YOU. ALMOST. BROKE. OUR. POOR. LITTLE. HEART! DO. NOT. DO. THAT. EVER. AGAIN. YOU. HEAR. US?" - I hear someone say as that weird sound stops. The voice seems familiar, but the way everything is pronounced is completely wrong. Rather than forming sentences, it sounds more like they simply spit out words and then say the last word properly.

...Darling? We? Went overboard with it? What the hell is going on here? I thought I had enough when Yuri suddenly went mad, but whoever this is, I should probably get away from them as soon as...

Wait, I think I can see it now...I recognize this marking of a screaming skull...This hair...This outfit...

"N...Natsuki?" - I ask with some difficulty. My face still feels numb.

Now I can clearly see her, but something is obviously not right. I can see her face, but the rest of her body is still upside down and if I can see the back of her hands and abdomen, then...what the fuck?! I've seen enough horror movies to say that this is wrong! All wrong!

"IS. SOMETHING. WRONG? IT. IS. THE. SWEATER. IS. IT. NOT? WE. DO. NOT. LIKE. IT. BUT. IT. WAS. THE. BEST. THING. YURI. COULD. OFFER. US." - she says, but I'm more focused on her eyes than whatever she is saying. Her eyes were somewhat disturbing before, but now no attempt to imitate human eyes is made. Only pulsating pink rings where her irises used to be remain. The rest of it remains pitch black.

I think it's obvious at this point that something is wrong with Natsuki as well. She never talked like this or did anything with her body as creepy as...as this! Just to avoid looking at her, I look around the room and what I see isn't much better. There are spiders crawling everywhere and they changed too. Now instead of Natsuki's hairclip, the marking on their abdomens matches what she has. They also look bigger and nastier.

"No, it's okay! Um...could you bring me some water? My throat is killing me..." - I ask. I'm not lying, but my main objective is getting her out of the room. After seeing what Yuri did, I can't afford to be so careless.

"OH? SURE. THING! - she replies cheerily as she descends from the ceiling. I try not to cringe when I see her body move around while her head stays in place. The sound that accompanies that motion isn't much better. I'm not sure if it simply sounds like cracking bones or that's exactly what happens. Either way, I don't want to hear it.

Once she leaves, I start searching for Monika's little gift. If I remember correctly, the gun should be hidden in my bed. Only I know about it's location, but I don't know for how long I've been out. She could ha- No, it's here. Thank God it's here. I don't want to use it, but if something goes wrong, I can at least point it at her. Hopefully it won't get to that point.

...Damn it, it's too big to fit in my pockets. Looks like I have to keep it here for now. I guess all I can do for now is wait for her to come back.

Right as I put my head back on the pillow, she enters the room with a glass of water in her ha- Jesus Christ, when is it going to end? The way her human legs dangle as she walks using her spider legs is just not right.

"HERE. YOU. GO. OUR. LITTLE. SWEETHEART!" - she says as she gives me the oh-so-refreshing cup of water. I don't even take my time to make sure there's nothing wrong with it.

"Thanks...How did I get here anyway?" - I ask once I'm done drinking water. I'm also no longer wearing my school uniform, but I'm not going to ask anything about it.

"AH. WELL. YOU. SEE. WE. WANTED. TO. MAKE. SURE. NO. ONE. ELSE. CAN. HURT. YOU. AND. SO. WE. DRAGGED. YOU. ALL. THE. WAY. HERE. WE. KNEW. THAT. YOU. ARE. NOT. GOING. TO. TAKE. IT. WELL. AND. SO. WE. HAD. TO...UM...IMMOBILIZE. YOU. WE. REALLY. SHOULD. THANK. MONIKA. FOR. LETTING. US. DO. IT! WE. THOUGHT. SHE. WAS. GOING. TO. GET. IN. OUR. WAY. BUT. SHE. WAS. OKAY. WITH. IT! AND. BEFORE. THAT. SHE. WAS. THE. ONE. WHO. FOUNDED. THE. LITERATURE. CLUB. AND. CONVINCED. YOU. TO. JOIN. US!...HM...BUT. HOW. SHOULD. WE. THANK. HER?...OH! YES! WE. WILL. MAKE. HER. ONE. OF. US! ONE. OF. US! ONE. OF. US. ONE. OF. US. ONE. OF. US. ONEOFUSONEOFUSONEOFUSONEOFUS!" - she replies, but it quickly devolves into mad rambling. While I'm not okay with what Monika did, I don't think I want to know what Natsuki meant by that. I should probably g-

Before I can do much, one of Natsuki's extra appendages pins me to my bed. Fortunately, it doesn't pierce my body like it should, but the force applied is still enough to make it hurt. As soon as I stop trying to get up, she retracts it.

"WHERE. DO. YOU. THINK. YOU. ARE. GOING? YOU. STILL. HAVE. NOT. RECOVERED." - she says, her tone still just as cheerful as it was earlier, but I can tell by her twitching antennae and subtle movements of her jaws that she's not pleased.

"I-I just want to stretch me legs out, that's all!" - I reply. I simply can't catch a break, can I?

"...FINE! BUT. REMEMBER! WE. ARE. ALWAYS. WATCHING... **Don't get caught.** " - she says as she points at something in the corner of the room. When I look at it, I see another spider, but this one looks different. Numerous eyes cover its head. It also has some kind of weird flat protrusion on its head. She's been practicing a lot with these guys, hasn't she?...Did she see me search for my gun? It's still wrapped up, so, she certainly doesn't know what it is, but this is still a problem. I don't know what to expect from her and I don't want to find out what will happen if I upset her.

"Oh, one more question: why is it so dark here?" - I ask. Right now, the only sources of light are Natsuki's eyes and something in the hall.

"AH. YOU. SEE. WE. WANTED. TO. CHANGE. SOME. THINGS. HERE. AND. THERE. SO. IT. WOULD. BE. MORE. COMFORTABLE. FOR. US.. IT. IS. NOT. LIKE. LIGHT. IS. HARMFUL. TO. US. OR. ANYTHING. BUT. WE. PREFER. TO. HAVE. IT. LIKE. THIS!" - she replies. Great.

Needless to say, I'm not fond of...this whole thing, but I can't say it out loud.

"ARE. YOU. HUNGRY? YOU. PROBABLY. ARE! IT. HAS. BEEN. A. FEW. DAYS. SINCE. THE. LAST. TIME. YOU. ATE. ANYTHING. BUT. DO. NOT. WORRY. WE. ARE. GOING. TO. PREPARE. SOMETHING! YOU. MUST. EAT. IF. YOU. WANT. TO. BE. STRONG. AND. HEALTHY! NOW. THEN. FOLLOW. US." - she says as she leaves the room again and she is right, I am hungry. Hopefully she won't make me eat spiders...Wait, a few days? That's...concerning.

As I follow her to the kitchen, I notice that there's something covering...pretty much everything aside from furniture and the floor. Is this something she did with her spiders? It looks like it's made of hundreds of armore- Is that an eye?! The thing covering the front door has a giant eye and it's staring at me! How did she even make them? These spiders are supposed to be coming out of her body, but there's no way she could produce all of them in such a short amount of time!

"WHERE. ARE. YOU. MY. PRECIOUS. LITTLE. HUMAN?" - I hear her call out from the kitchen. I'll leave whatever the hell those things are for later.

When I enter the kitchen, I am relieved to see that it remains almost unchanged. Not sure why she didn't turn this room into a mess, but I'm grateful for that.

"NOW. THAT. YOU. ARE. HERE. WE. ARE. GOING. TO...WHAT. SHOULD. WE. COOK. ANYWAY?...UM...WHAT. DO. YOU. GUYS. THINK?" - she asks...someone, clearly lost in thought.

"...How about cupcakes?" - I suggest. Might as well get something good out of this situation.

"...NAH."

"Then what a-"

"LET. US. THINK. YOU. DUMMY!" - she interrupts me as she grabs my cheeks and squishes them together. I can feel her fingers dig into my flesh and it hurts like hell.

...Can I survive even a single day with her in this state?


	19. Mother of a Thousand Young, BAD_DATA Part 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I think it's safe to say that not much is left before this ends, so, here's some little trivia:
> 
> Initially, this fic was much different. It didn't happen in a game and Monika wasn't responsible for any of this. Instead, Yuri and Natsuki met some people they shouldn't have encountered and went missing for a week. Then, on his way home, Kazuki would find them in a bad state (on top of no longer being human) and take care of them with Monika's help (and since it wasn't a game, she would do it just because they were her friends). It wouldn't go as well as it did in this version due to not having any muscle memory needed for it all along with being traumatized from their experience in wherever they were held and they would eventually lose control (for different reasons), forcing Kazuki to...put them out of their misery. I also wasn't sure if I should leave only Yuri and Natsuki to this fate or have Sayori and maybe even Monika share it. Overall, the tone was different and I wasn't sure if I could properly balance the good and bad things.
> 
> In other words, it could have been worse.
> 
> With that said, back to Kazuki.

They sure do take their sweet time deciding what to feed me. It's been at least ten minutes since she said anything and my cheeks still hurt. I didn't have much to do aside from watching Natsuki stand almost completely motionless with an occasional little dance, but I couldn't risk getting her angry by leaving either.

"OH. YES. THAT. DOES. SOUND. GOOD. VERY. WELL! IT. HAS. BEEN. DECIDED!" - she says before getting to work. Finally.

Still, I need to think of a way to escape. The front door is certainly out of the question. There's no way I can get that thing off the door before she can do something about it. The windows would be easier to take care of, but it would still take too much time. Maybe I can convince her to open the door? But then I would need a good excuse for it. Regardless of her intentions, she's genuinely worried about my safety and probably wouldn't allow me to go outside on a whim and even if she did, she would certainly accompany me. I don't know what she thinks of other humans, so, the results could be disastrous. There is a chance that it will go smoothly, but that's not a gamble I'm willing to take.

"HERE. IT. IS!" - Natsuki exclaims, forcing me back into the bizarre reality...What the fuck is this pink mass? Is this thing even edible? Is it fucking moving?! How did she even make this?

"Na-"

"EAT." - she interrupts me. The rings in her eyes have shrunk greatly and I can clearly see her jaws part slightly in anticipation...Well then, let's dig in...

...It's not too bad. It's actually surprisingly sweet even if its smell isn't exactly nice. I don't know what makes it move, but it stops when I take my first bite. This isn't something I'd eat every day, but I honestly wouldn't be against eating it in small portions. The problem is that there is too much on the plate.

"Thanks Natsuki, but I don't think I c-"

"EAT." - she repeats. Now her head is twitching a little too.

"Natsuki, I'm not going t-"

"EAT!" - she shouts. Her cheerful tone is completely absent and her abdomen is shifting a little.

This isn't good at all. I feel like I'm one word away from getting stabbed again, this time with a much higher dose of whatever venom she has. That scorpion tail is not there for show. If I try to run away right now, it should be long enough to reach me without her having to move, so, I'll wait until she's caught off-guard or at least until she's far enough from me. Gauging the distance is another problem as she's very fast. I don't know how Monika managed to run away and ambush her, but then again, that happened before Natsuki lost her mind.

As I think of my plan, I slowly but surely finish the remains of this eldritch meal, trying my best to ignore the sounds made by Natsuki's twitching. As soon as I swallow the last bite, she starts clapping her hands and the whole house fills with the noise of something similar. I can only assume that it's coming from her spiders.

"GREAT! DID. YOU. LIKE. IT? WE. MADE. IT. WITH. LOVE!" - she asks. Looks like she's back to her "normal" self. That's better than nothing.

"Yeah...It was good...So sweet..." - I reply. While I'm not lying about it, I still have to hide any hint of discomfort.

"NICE! VERY. NICE! OH! RIGHT! THERE. IS. SOMETHING. WE. WANT. TO. SHOW. YOU! YURI. GAVE. IT. TO. US. TOO. BUT. WE. MADE. IT. EVEN. BETTER!" - she says before leaving me alone again.

...Now that I think about it...Even if I escape, what am I supposed to do then? I can't just leave Natsuki here. She'll catch me in no time at all. I don't think there's anything I can do to lock her inside. The only other option is...No, I can't do that. There must be something that I can do to make her snap out of it. There's no way she went mad naturally. People don't just suddenly start acting like someone completely different.

"WE. ARE. BACK! WHAT. DO. YOU. THINK. OF. IT?" - she asks as she enters the kitchen again. Now she's wearing...and old black dress with what appears to be web added to it. It's well made, but where did Yuri of all people get it in the first place? And why would Natsuki take it? It had to happen before we went to the festival, but they were still fine at that point and I just can't see someone like Natsuki actually taking it.

"It's...nice?" - I reply. I really don't know what to say aside from that. At least I no longer have to see half of her body twitching or dangling like some deranged puppet.

...Well, it does a good job of hiding most of her inhuman body parts and if she curled her spider legs around her body like she did before, she'd look almost like a normal human with some oddly symmetrical loose strands of hair sticking out of her head and weird eyes. It would be a great outfit for her to wear whenever she decided to go outside without people staring at her...if it wasn't such an old-fashioned dress. That alone would ruin everything.

"WHY. THANK. YOU! WE. REALLY. SHOULD. THANK. YURI. FOR. IT. BUT. SHE. IS. SO. SCARY. NOW! WE. COULD. NOT. EVEN. GET. CLOSE. TO. YOU. THAT. DAY." - she says, fear sipping into her voice when she recalls that day...Did she arrive before Monika did? I wouldn't be surprised if she followed me soon after I left the classroom. She probably arrived at some point after Yuri approached me.

"So, what should we do now?" - I ask, mentally preparing myself for whatever might come next.

"...AH. RIGHT. NOW. THAT. YOU. ARE. WELL. FED. AND. WE. KNOW. THE. DOSE. NEEDED. TO. PARALYZE. YOU. WITHOUT. KNOCKING. YOU. OUT. WE. CAN. BEGIN! THIS. IS. EXACTLY. WHY. WE. ARE. WEARING. THIS. DRESS. AT. THE. MOMENT! A. WIDOW. LOOKS. THE. BEST. IN. BLACK. DOES. SHE. NOT? - she replies...a widow?

"W-What are you talking about?" - I say as I stand up from the chair I'm sitting on, making sure to grab it in case she tries to pull something.

"WELL. YOU. SEE. WE. DESIRE. A. FAMILY. A. BIG. FAMILY. BUT. THESE. LITTLE. GUYS. ARE. NOT. WHAT. WE. NEED. SO. WE. ARE. GOING. TO. IMMOBILIZE. YOU. AGAIN. BUT. THIS. TIME. WE. WILL. DO. IT. RIGHT. ONCE. THAT. IS. DONE. WE. WILL. INJECT. OUR. EGGS. INTO. YOUR. BODY. IT. IS. GOING. TO. HURT. BUT. NOT. FOR. LONG. SO. DO. NOT. WORRY! THEY. WILL. HATCH. IN. A. WEEK. AND. ONCE. THEY. DO. THEY. WILL. NEED. FOOD...AH! IS. IT. NOT. AMAZING? NOW. LET. U-"

"Wait, where did you get these eggs? Aren't those supposed to form after you...well...you know..." - I interrupt her with a question. Here goes nothing...

"W- **W-What?**  EW! NO! THAT. IS. NOT. HOW. IT. WORKS. FOR. US! ALL. WE. NEED. IS. TO. TAKE. A. BITE. FROM. YOU. A-"

She doesn't get to finish her explanation when her face meets with the chair I was holding. It manages to knock her down and so I throw away the leg that broke off my makeshift weapon and run as fast as my legs can carry me.

"KAZUKI!" - she screams and I can already hear her get up and go after me. Fuck, I'm not going to have enough time to do anything about the windows or the door.

And so I decide to go to my bedroom instead. I have no choice now. It's either me or her and I'm sorry for that, but it must be done.

"HERE. YOU. ARE!" - she says as she finally reaches the bedroom. Fortunately, my hand is already holding the gun by the time she lunges at me.

I point the gun at her and pull the trigger. With a loud bang, a part of Natsuki's face shatters like glass. Somehow, the bullet didn't burst through the back of her head, but the damage done is enough to make her recoil in shock. I expected to see her brains or something like that, but there's just...nothing. She doesn't even bleed.

"WHAT. HAVE. YOU. DONE?! I. AM. NOT. GOING. TO. FORGIVE. YOU. FOR. THIS!" - she yells at me as she holds the part of her face where her right set of eyes used to be.

But before I have to shoot her again, she suddenly stops. With her remaining "eye" wide open, she falls onto the floor as her body starts twitching.

" **It...It hurts...** WHAT...IS...THIS...THIS...IS...WRONG! WRONG!  **Please stop!**  STOP. THIS! MAKE. IT. STOP!  **THIS. IS. WRONG! ALL. WRONG!**  It hurts!" - she starts screaming her head off, but eventually, it's reduced to what sounds like sobbing. The twitching also turns into something much more familiar, but no tears come out.

...This might be a bad idea, but I simply can't help doing it. It just feels like the right thing to do. I slowly approach Natsuki and wrap my arms around her.

"I...I'm sorry..." - I apologize as I lift her from the floor.

In a few minutes, she calms down and falls asleep. Once I'm sure of it, I put her body on my bed. With some effort, I manage to remove the bullet from her head and cover the hole in her face with bandages. I don't think it would be a good idea to leave it exposed.

For some reasons, the things covering the walls in the hall burst into flames and disintegrate into nothing. I can't see it from here, but I assume that the things on the windows and the front door are gone too. The spiders are still there, but fortunately for me, they do not move.

All I can do is wait until she wakes up. If she proves to be a threat, then I'll have to put her down, but I still have hope.

...I'll have to ask Monika a few questions about this once I'm done here...


	20. Club President Monika's one-time offer

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I think it's safe to say that the rest of the story (i.e. 3 more chapters) will be from Kazuki's POV.

I'm woken up by someone shaking me out of sleep. Natsuki is still sleeping on my bed, so, it has to be someone else, but shouldn't the door be locked?

"Ah, you're awake. Well, congratulations! You've managed to defeat the monster way out of your league. How did you do it?" - Monika asks with her usual smile.

"W-How did you get here?" - I ask as I stand up.

"Obviously through the front door." - she replies as she shows me what appears to be a replica of my door key. I pull of my key and compare them.

"This isn't the t- I don't remember giving you my keys. Where did you get it?" - I ask her once I'm sure that these keys are identical.

"That's completely irrelevant, don't you think? I'm sure you've got bigger problems to think of." - she says and she is right.

"...Monika...Why did you let Natsuki kidnap me?" - I ask her. Something tells me this is how the rest of our conversation will go.

"Why would I stop her? Your survival is completely meaningless to me. All I need is you to exist. It doesn't matter what state you're in. As long as your existence is recognized by the world, he can use it as his vessel." - she...what?...Is she...

I grab the gun and point it at her face. I expect some kind of reaction, but she doesn't even flinch. Her smile doesn't even falter one bit.

"Um, Kazuki? Things like these are dangerous. Could you, well, not to point it at my face?...Ah, I see. I'm not sure how you came to that conclusion, but you can lower it. I'm just as human as you a...Scratch that, I'm more human than any of you." - she says as she puts her hand on the barrel of the weapon in my hand. I lower it, but her words don't make me calm down.

"Are you some kind of delusional cultist? I've seen enough of these in fiction to tell you t-"

"What? Pfft, no! No! I'm just a girl in love with someone, that's all. It just that this someone happens to be from another world and YOU are his eyes and ears here...well, that's how it should be at least. Unfortunately, he's been absent for a while now." - she interrupts me...I still don't get it. What the hell is she talking about? Who is that guy and w-

Suddenly, something tackles Monika down to the floor.

"MONIKA WHAT THE FUCK?!" - Natsuki yells at the club president. Looks like she woke up too. Her speech is back to normal, so, I don't have to worry about getting attacked again. Hopefully I won't have to explain what happened to her face.

"...Jesus Christ, if you want answers so badly, then let me actually give them to you." - Monika says with a sigh. She does have a point, but Natsuki doesn't let her go. Instead, she stabs the floor uncomfortably close to Monika's head with one of her extra limbs.

"YOU...You...You didn't even try to stop me! I could have done so many things I would regret now and yet to didn't even bat an eye! What the fuck were you thinking?!" - Natsuki keeps yelling at Monika, but it doesn't seem to have any effect on her.

"Oh, trust me, if you knew half the things I know of, you wouldn't be so mad at me. With that said, could you get off me? I'm not here to waste time on this." - Monika says and Natsuki complies reluctantly.

"Then why are you here?" - I ask.

"...You want to help Yuri, don't you?" - Monika asks.

"Yes, I do." - I reply. She finally drops her smile and frowns.

"...Yeah, about that. I wouldn't try that if I were you. It's a really bad idea." - Monika says. Natsuki is certainly not amused.

"Oh yeah? And why is it so?" - Natsuki asks with her arms crossed over her chest.

"Well, you see, she's been...How should I put it...She's gone mad? Lost her marbles? I haven't actually seen her since the day of the festival, but the wailing coming from her house and the occasional screams should tell you everything you need to know about her current state. If that's not enough for you, the malignant aura her house radiates should seal the deal." - she replies in a very matter-of-fact way. Honestly, it's getting more infuriating than disturbing at this point.

"But we can't just leave her alone either!" - I say before Natsuki can say anything offensive.

"Actually, you can and you should. Soon, that part of her will completely break down and vanish without a trace. Approaching her in her current state will prove to be disastrous. If you simply wait for Yuri to lose herself and avoid going anywhere near her house, I can spare you from what comes next. Ah, yes. You'll have nothing to worry about. No school or literature club to attend, no monsters to take care of, no difficult decisions to make, no pain to endure. Nothing. Now, do you I accept my offer?" - she asks as she extends her arm towards me. That fucking smile is back on her face.

"Hell no! Do you really think I'm going to just...abandon her after all this time? And what kind of offer is that?!" - I reply. She doesn't even move.

"...Good grief, why does it always have to be so difficult...Very well. Don't say I didn't warn you. You will meet a horrible fate and there's nothing you can do about it. Still, I am impressed by what you've managed to accomplish, so, I guess I can tell you how to save the part of Yuri you care about even if there's no way you can get that far...Ahaha...It might sound really stupid, but...A kiss from you should work. I would explain why exactly, but then I would have to tell you many other things and I don't have that much time to waste. With that said, there's one more thing I must tell you...Keep one bullet for yourself. Don't even bother shooting her. The best you'll get out of it is a few seconds of delay before your death."

"Wait, wh-"

"See you later!" - she says before...disappearing. There are no portals or hellfire or anything like that. She's just...gone in an instant.

"...What the flying fuck was that?!" - Natsuki exclaims.

"I have no idea. At the very least, now we know where to look for Yuri. I really doubt that "solution" was anything more than a sick joke." - I say.

Honestly, I don't know what we're going to do about her. I still don't know how I managed to make Natsuki go back to normal...well, she's still not a human, but at least her mind is still the same...I think I should ask her about it.

"By the way, do you know how I made you snap out of it?" - I ask. Hopefully she knows something.

"I...I can't tell you the whole story, but when you shot me, the pain brought some...unpleasant memories. It was so...alien to that side of me that she just...broke down." - she replies. It's clearly something she doesn't want to talk about, so, I'm not going to ask her what those memories were about.

"...Say, is there anything that could have a similar effect on Yuri?" - I ask.

"I don't think so? It's not like we even know if it's actually going to work for her. Maybe it worked only because of what I am. We probably shouldn't try it until we try everything else. I really don't want to bring up any bad memories only to find out that it didn't work." - she replies.

Damn it...This is going to be much more difficult than I thought. Still, we have some time to think about everything. It looks like the sun is going to set soon and I don't think it would be a good idea to try approaching her at night, so, we'll have to go there tomorrow...Hm...We should probably try to keep her inside her house and make sure she doesn't go outside. I don't know how fast she is in the air, but I'd rather not find out. The limited space should limit her movements, but that applies to us as well, so, we'll have to be extra careful. Yuri's long tail and large wings will be the biggest problem and that's assuming she doesn't have anything else up her sleeve. For all we know, she can breathe fire. She is a dragon after all...But she's also a vampire...That's a lot to think of.

"Hey, Natsuki...You can spin web now, right?" - I ask. I remember her using it earlier to hang from the ceiling and the extra details on her dress are certainly made of that web.

"Yes and OH...Um, you probably shouldn't go outside for now...Let's just say that I was trying to make your house more comfortable for myself and my idea of comfortable wasn't exactly normal at the time." - she replies...Really now?

"...Anyway, is it durable enough to restrain Yuri?" - I ask.

"It should be, but I doubt she's going to let me do it even if I manage to sneak up on her. Last time I tried to attack her, she was fast enough to close my mouth shut as I lunged at her. She'll just throw me off." - she replies...Wait, when did that happen?

"...I see. Well, do you have any other ideas?" - I ask, putting my curiosity aside for now.

"I could try to use this first, but I don't know how much I need to immobilize her without killing her." - she replies as her spider abdomen uncurls into a scorpion tail.

"I think it wouldn't hurt to try...Oh, um, I should have asked it earlier. How are you feeling?" - I ask.

"Surprisingly well. If you're worried about my face, then it doesn't hurt anymore and my spiders should be able to fix it later...Speaking of spiders, I think I have an idea..." - she replies.

"And what is it?" - I ask.

...It's going to be a long night, but it will be worth it in the end. No matter what it takes, we will save Yuri. We'll prove Monika wrong.


	21. Lord of the Moonlit Castle, BAD_DATA Part 1

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Kazuki's POV.

The sun rises to shine down upon our little town.

Natsuki told me to rest, but I simply couldn't sleep. I couldn't stop thinking of Yuri. Monika said that she will soon lose herself, but how much time do we have before that happens? She could already be gone and we wouldn't even know it until we find her. If that happens, I don't know what we're going to do. That other side of her was mad at me last time we met and if Monika's words are to be trusted, then my chances of survival are pretty low. Monika also told us that she's gone mad, but she didn't tell us what exactly she meant by that. It could end up being a problem, but we don't have enough information about it to adjust our plans accordingly.

I wonder what exactly Natsuki has in mind. She told me that she's going to use her spiders to help us restrain Yuri, but she didn't tell me how. Maybe she didn't know the answer either. I don't know what to expect from them at this point. Apparently they can change their forms if it's required to carry out Natsuki's orders, but neither of us know their limits. Perhaps that is what she spent the whole night on? Hopefully she can get something useful out of them.

Of course, they are only a part of our plan. The most important thing here is Natsuki's web. If we can't actually restrain her, then it's all pointless. Fortunately, it proved to be very durable. Not even Natsuki herself could damage it without using her saliva, which is the only way to get rid of it once it's formed. The only problem is that we need time to actually bind Yuri. We can't leave any body parts unrestrained, but if we have no other choise, then her wings should be the top priority target. Without the ability to fly, her mobility will be severely restricted and we won't have to worry about getting cut by the blades on her wings.

...Alright, enough thinking. I get up from my bed and walk out of the ro-

As soon as I step out of the room, an obnoxiously loud screech stops me. I look around for its source and find one of those camera spiders. Looks like she didn't get rid of them...wait, the markings on their abdomens is back to Natsuki's hair clip...So...these are new.

"Ah! Kazuki! Didn't I tell you to rest?" - Natsuki yells as she approaches me.

"You did, but...How can I rest at a time like this?" - I reply. She narrows her remaining eye.

"I get it, but you're not doing anyone any good by losing sleep over this mess...You're not going to listen, are you? You idiot..." - she says, her voice trailing off at the end.

"...So, any progress on...whatever it is that you've been doing since yesterday?" - I ask before she can go back to the living room.

"Yeah, I'm done. Just gotta set them up properly. But I'm not going to show you anything. I don't want you to end up screwing everything up. No offense, but you're not exactly subtle and she's quite perceptive." - she replies.

"I'm not going to deny that. Do you have any ideas on what to do once she can no longer harm us?" - I ask.

"Nope, I'm drawn to a blank. I thought about beating sense into her, but that's not guaranteed to work and I don't think she's going to be okay after that if it actually works." - she replies.

Honestly, I still don't know what to do either. We don't have the information needed to come up with a way to help her. I'm tempted to try out Monika's solution, but it just sounds so...stupid. This isn't some fairy tale where power of love fixes everything. Then again, none of this should be possible. For all we know, there's some evil witch who decided on a whim to turn Yuri and Natsuki into monsters. Hopefully this is the first and the last time it happened if it somehow is true.

"Well, we'll think about that later. We're moving out in twenty minutes. Every single second could change everything." - I say. It should be enough to prepare ourselves for what comes next.

* * *

When Monika said that Yuri's house radiates a malignant aura, I didn't think it was something that we could actually see. However, there are no sounds coming from it, something that contradicts what she said. This could be either a good or a bad sign.

"...Are you ready?" - Natsuki asks and I nod in response. I'm actually not ready for this, but we can't waste time.

We carefully approach Yuri's house. We don't have the keys to open the door, but breaking the door down would leave an opening that would let Yuri escape. Fortunately, Natsuki's spiders are small enough to pick the lock. As the door opens, we brace ourselves expecting Yuri to attack us only to find no one. We lock the door again as we enter her house.

We look for Yuri on the ground floor, but it turns out to be completely empty, which means she must be upstairs. The claw marks lining the stairway should have made it obvious, but she could have went downstairs at some point after making them and so we had to check.

As we ascend the flight of stairs, I hear a strange sound coming from somewhere upstairs. I hear it again and again, but I can't tell what it's supposed to be. The fear clearly shows on Natsuki's face, but she doesn't let it deter her.

Finally, we reach the source of these sounds. To say that the room was a mess would be an understatement. Torn books, broken furniture, windows lined with scratches and even more claw marks on the walls make up a very unpleasant sight. Surrounded by this mess is Yuri, but I can't see what she's doing.

Suddenly, Natsuki's body tenses up. Looks like she noticed us.

" **Why...Why did you come here?** " - Yuri asks with a hoarse voice as she turns to face u- Is that a knife sticking out of her chest?

"We came to help you, Yuri." - I reply. Her eye widen as she clutches her head.

" **No...No...No no NO NO! You shouldn't have come here! You shouldn't have! You...Ah...I see...I see!** " - she shouts, but then she suddenly starts laughing.

"Y-Yuri?" - I stammer, but she doesn't stop. Yuri keeps laughing and laughing, but there's no joy in that laugh. It keeps going for what feels like hours before she finally stops.

" **You really hate me that much, don't you? You all just want to see me suffer...The world itself wants me to suffer...** " - she says with an inhumanly wide smile.

"What the fuck are you talking about?" - Natsuki asks.

" **Why else would this happen to me? Years...For years I've been called a freak for simply liking something different, but now? They are right! I am a freak! Cursed to live for eternity as everything crumbles to dust! I'll have to watch you all wither and die while I stay the same. I'll watch your children wither and die while I can't have any of my own! I can't even kill myself to avoid this torture! No matter what I do, it never fucking works! Even when I finally managed to tear my head off, it still didn't work! It doesn't even hurt much!** " - she keeps rambling, her claws digging deeper and deeper into her skull as she starts clawing at her face.

"Yuri, calm down! Let's just ta-"

" **And now you came! You came to watch me suffer!...but...I can't bring myself to hate you...You are my friends...You were the only thing that mattered in my life...And that's exactly why I must do this...Do this while I still can..."** \- she interrupts me as she pulls the knife sticking out of her. Her self-inflicted wounds are already gone.

"Wh-"

Natsuki tackles me down to the floor before a knife can pierce my head. I look at Yuri again to see her smile falter. I expected her to look angry or disappointed, but she looks sad.

" **Please...Please don't make this harder for me!** " - she pleads before her expression suddenly shifts. Sadness changes into barely contained anger as her posture changes.

"It's time to get to work, Kazuki! There's no point in trying to talk her out of this!" - Natsuki says as she helps me get up from the floor.

"Have you finaly realized the consequences of your actions? You've done this to me. You're the one responsible for this. You will pay for it with your life. Still, I must say that your decision to approach me during the day was a good one...but there is something you failed to take into account...You see, I am not completely helpless. I will have to rest for a while once I'm done with this, but it will be worth it. While I would normally take my time killing you, I cannot afford to let you live any longer lest I lose my mind completely. With that said..." - Yuri says. She closes her eyes for a second and when she opens them again, their color changes from purple to bright red. Her posture changes again as she hunches over and spreads her wings.

"Alright, just remember our plan..." - I whisper. I didn't want it to come to this, but we didn't come here without preparing for this outcome.


	22. Lord of the Moonlit Castle, BAD_DATA Part 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> One more to go.
> 
> Kazuki's POV.

Once again, I jump aside when Yuri tries to tackle me. It's horribly telegraphed, but her speed and strength make up for it. I'm sure that if I don't dodge in time, my body will break apart into a dozen pieces from the sheer force of impact, but I'm not used to this much physical activity and so I can't keep doing this.

Fortunately, Yuri seems to completely ignore Natsuki and so she doesn't pay any attention to her until she feels something grab her tail.

"Over here!" - Natsuki shouts as she starts pulling Yuri's tail towards her. I don't think she is going to accomplish anything aside from giving me a few seconds of rest.

The club vice president growls as it quickly turns into a tug of war, with the smaller girl obviously outmatched. In a matter of seconds, Natsuki loses her footing and Yuri throws her into the wall. Luckily, she loses interest in her and focuses on me instead of making sure that Natsuki is out of commission.

...All things considered, staying inside this room is a bad idea. While it does limit her mobility, it leaves little room for us as well, but we can't go outside until we take care of her wings. I could try using myself as a bait to give Natsuki time to bind her wings, but I doubt I'm going to survive it. Yuri will kill me as soon as she gets close enough to do so and once she's done with me, she'll certainly go after Natsuki. I can't let that hap-

I move out of the way as Yuri flies past, crashing into the wall behind me with a hiss. This is another problem. If she keeps doing this, she will end up breaking through, which will let her go outside and take flight. We need to get things moving quickly.

I run out of the room and quickly descend the flight of stairs. Yuri tries to run after me, but Natsuki jumps onto her and pins the girl to the floor with whatever weight she has. Her abdomen uncurls into a tail as she tries to bind Yuri's wings together, but she doesn't get enough time before getting thrown off again. I can see her try to sting the dragon with her tail before I continue running. I shouldn't let this distract me. I must keep r-

I stop when I see Natsuki's body fly past me with a yelp. Looks like it didn't work.

"L-Looks like things will have to get ugly." - Natsuki says with a hoarse voice. One of her spider legs is in a very bad state, but she has five more.

Something crawls out of Natsuki's body. I haven't seen these before, but I'm going to assume that this is what she's been workin- I forgot about Yuri! She's inches away from m-

I feel something pull me away as one of the spiders jumps at Yuri and explodes as soon as it reaches her face. A horrible smell follows as the blood from the little critter dissolves flesh on Yuri's face. While I know that it's not going to deal any permanent damage, the sight of it is still repulsive to me. However, that does not stop her for long. In a second, she attempts to attack me. Seeing that, Natsuki sends the rest of the spiders to follow their comrade's example.

Finally, the pain becomes unbearable for Yuri as she screams. Natsuki uses this opportunity to take care of her wings. Binding together the base of her wings should be enough Fortunately, she manages to finish her job before the club vice president can recover. Now we don't have to worry about h-

Suddenly, Yuri grabs Natsuki's neck. That instantly stops the spider queen. Instead of choking her, Yuri lifts her into the air and grabs her legs with her free hand before placing her across her shoulders as if she's about to perform a backbreaker.

If I don't do anything about it, she will snap her in half and so I do the only thing I can think of at the moment. I tackle Yuri, freeing Natsuki in the process. Unfortunately, that also leaves me dangerously close t-

I realize a second too late that this is exactly what she wanted. She grabs me and runs back upstairs. I try to break free from her grasp, but that only makes her tighten her grip. As soon as she reaches the room upstairs, Yuri breaks through the wall she damaged earlier. The landing is quite rough, but she doesn't care. As soon as she drops me, she...tears her wings off...I see. This was the only way for her to get rid of Natsuki's web.

I try to back away as I see her wings regrow, but she's much faster and in a matter of seconds, her hand is back on my throat. Her eyes are purple again, but her expression isn't much different.

"I apologize, but it looks like I cannot keep my promise of quick death. You see, I don't have much time left before I pass out. Even if I kill you, I'm sure that little bitch over there will make sure that I won't do anything she doesn't want me to do. Now, that wouldn't be good, would it?...Ah, I think it's time for the feast to begin. You have no idea how hungry I am. I drank some blood throughout these past few days, but it was barely enough to give me a little boost. But now I have a whole human to drain of his precious fluids. Once I am done with you, I'll get rid of all humans who dare to trespass my territory. With that said..." - she says before roughly grabbing my left arm with her other hand and biting it like a hungry beast.

"Kazuki!" - I hear Natsuki call out, but she might be too far to reach me in time.

Saying that it hurts would be an understatement. I can already feel her suck my blood out like a damn leech. With every second, more and more of my blood is drained. I don't know how long it will take for her to kill me, but it doesn't look like I have much time lef-

The sound of a gunshot rings out as Yuri lets go of my arms and drops down to the ground with a rather big hole in her head.

"Natsuki, now!" - I hear someone shout...That voice sounds familiar.

In a few seconds, Natsuki reaches Yuri's unmoving body and begins wrapping it up in web before she can recover. Now she shouldn't be able to move. I sit down to rest for a bit.

"Finally...But now what?" - Natsuki asks as she wipes the non-existent sweat off her forehead.

"...You...You bitch!" - Yuri yells at someone once the wound is gone. She struggles to break out of her bindings to no avail.

I turn to face whoever her insults were aimed at and...Monika?!

"Language, Yuri." - Monika says in response. Yes, that was her. She's still holding...a fucking magnum? Isn't that a bit much? Not that I'm complaining, but why would she even need it?...I really shouldn't be thinking about such trivial things after everything that happened.

"What are you doing here and why did you help me?" - I ask.

"Hm, yes, that's a pretty fucking good question after all that shit you said yesterday, don't you think, Monika?!" - Natsuki adds.

"...I...I just...I couldn't...I couldn't just...It...This is hard to explain...But I couldn't let you all die. It wasn't right." - Monika replies with a shaky voice. I've never heard her talk like this.

"Yeah, right. Do you honestly believe we're going to just believe that?" - Natsuki says in response. She's clearly pissed off.

"...No...No, I don't. I don't think there's any way for me to explain it. You're not going to understand...Nobody will..." - Monika says, her voice trailing of at the end.

"...Look, I'm willing to let it all slide if you just tell me one thing: how to help Yuri?" - I ask. We'll deal with all that cryptic bullshit later.

"I've already told you. As stupid as it sounds, it's the best solution to this problem for now." - Monika replies.

"Really now? Did you come here just t-"

"Natsuki!...Fine...It's not like we have any better options. It's not going to hurt to try it." - I interrupt Natsuki before she can say anything else. I'm really tired at this point.

I approach Yuri with caution. Even if her limbs and tail are bound with web, her mouth is still free. I'm sure that's more than enough for her.

"W-What are you doing? G-Get away from me! You miserable, wretched, insignificant speck of feculent scum! How dare you!" - Yuri keeps yelling at me. She looks like she wants to get away, but she can't. She tries to get rid of the web again, her attempts becoming more and more desperate as I get closer.

...Eh, what the hell.

"Oh my..." - Monika whispers as I kiss Yuri. It's...really awkward. There are no words to describe it. The blood on her lips doesn't make it any better. It's all over he-

I recoil and quickly back away when I feel her tongue. It feels nothing like a tongue should feel like. I don't even have to look to know that it's covered in blood.

"...Kazuki?...I..." - Yuri asks and I collapse onto the ground from relief. It worked. It fucking worked.

...It's not relief...It's blood loss...

"Kazuki! Shit...Quickly! Get him to..." - I hear Natsuki say before everything fades to black.


	23. The End?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Aaaand we're done with this bizarre fic. This is the last chapter of the story. It's not the last chapter I'm going to upload as I plan on writing some extra stuff, but overall, it can be considered to be complete.
> 
> Kazuki's POV.

When I wake up, the first thing I notice is how stiff...well...everything feels. It's sort of like when you fall asleep on your desk or in a chair and wake up an hour later. Needless to say, this isn't a very good feeling.

"He's awake!" - I hear someone say. I turn towards whoever that was and open my e-

"THIS SHIT AGAIN?!" - I shout as I try to get away from Natsuki only to get a really nasty feeling in my arm.

"Easy there, champ!" - Natsuki says and I calm down a bit. She speaks normally. Good.

I take another look at Natsuki's face. My eyes did not deceive me. Her right "eye" is completely black aside from a dimly glowing pink ring. However, her left set of eyes is completely normal.

"...Oh, I think I know what's bothering you. Yeah, that does look kinda creepy, but they told me that I'll have to keep it like this until I fully recover so I wouldn't strain these eyes more than I should." - she explains.

"I-I see." - I say in response. What else do her spiders tell her anyway?

"Um, are you alright?" - Yuri asks. I didn't notice her before as I was too busy thinking of how to deal with a crazy Natsuki again, but now that I see her, she looks...normal. Well, as normal as she can be.

"Yes, just a little...groggy, that's all." - I reply and she heaves a sigh of relief.

"Thank goodness...I couldn't bear the thought of you...well..." - Yuri says as her voice trails off, but I know what she meant.

"Hey, it's no big deal. You weren't in the right state of mind when you attacked me." - I say, but she shakes her head.

"No, I can't blame anyone for that but me. Both sides of me tried to kill you for different reasons. I'm just as guilty as...um...I was." - she says in response with a solemn look on her face...Ah, right. I almost forgot about that.

"Speaking of that...How are you feeling? I mean...The things you spoke of when we found you..." - I ask. I feel sorry for her knowing that she's going to outlive everyone she knows.

"Don't worry about that. I've already accepted my fate. However, I'm not going to just sit and wail in despair until madness takes my mind. That won't do anyone any good. Natsuki told me that." - Yuri replies, prompting Natsuki to jab her elbow into the taller girl's stomach.

"Hey, don't tell him that, you overgrown liz..." - Natsuki yells at the dragon, but she doesn't get to finish her half-hearted insult when her eyes meet Yuri's glare.

"A-Anyway, where is Monika?" - I ask, unwilling to see this mess escalate into something ugly.

"She left a few minutes ago. Said she needed her dose of caffeine or something. Do you want something from her" - Natsuki asks in response.

"Yeah, I wanted to ask her a few questions." - I reply.

"If you want her to tell you why she changed her mind or what the fuck she was talking about when we were preparing to help Yuri, then you're not going to get anything out of her. All she says is that she doesn't want to ruin everything for us by telling the truth." - Natsuki says.

"Is there...Do you think it truly matters at this point? She's been doing everything she can to help us these past four days. She really does fee-"

"Wait, four days?!" - I interrupt Yuri with a question. Has it really been four days since that day?

"Y-Yes. You've been out for that long. We've been visiting you quite frequently though." - Yuri replies...visiting?

I look around the room and finally realize that I'm not at home. The sterile look of a hospital isn't something I've seen often, but I can recognize it when I see it...Damn, I'm slow.

"Oh man, you should have seen their faces when they came to take you away! One dude passed out at the sight of us!" - Natsuki exclaims. That does sound like it would be amusing..Hm...Speaking of that...

"By the way...Do you still have problems with others, Yuri?" - I ask.

"Well, no, but I've been trying to find a way to keep it down...with mixed results. My appearance is still a problem though." - Yuri replies.

"I'm back!" - Monika announces as she closes the door behind her. She's carrying two cups of coffee and two bags of chips with her.

"Only two? But I told you to buy me a cup too." - Natsuki says.

"It's common knowledge that coffee is harmful to spiders and insects in general! That and I don't think you should drink it yet." - Monika says in response to Natsuki's complaints with a smile.

"That's bullshit! I'm just as old as you three! That's not fa-"

"Natsuki, language! Now then, are you feeling well?" - Monika asks as she interrupts Natsuki's whining by shoving a bag of chips into her mouth with enough force to split her mouth into five parts. The spider doesn't look quite as angry as I thought she would be after something like this. The club president, on the other hand, looks awfully pleased at the smaller girl's muffled grumbling.

"Don't you think that there's something else you must do?" - Yuri asks before I can answer Monika's question.

"Ah, here you go!" - Monika says as she gives Yuri her cup of coffee.

"T-That's not what I was talking about!" - Yuri protests, but she still takes the cup.

"Alright, alright...I'm sorry, Kazuki. I really shouldn't have...well...Just...Please forgive me for...sort of not really letting Natsuki take you for whatever she had in mind and...I'm not good at this, okay?" - Monika apologizes...or tries to.

"Eh, what's done is done. Nobody got really hurt in this whole mess, so, I can forgive you. I've heard you helped these two while I was absent, so, I don't have a reason to be mad at you now." - I say...Wait...what's up with...

Yuri's eyes are wide open when I look at her. In a few seconds, her whole body starts shaking like a vibrating phone.

"Y-Yuri? Are you okay?" - Natsuki asks after pulling the bag out of her mouth. Monika turns to look at the girl in question and freezes.

"YES!" - Yuri replies with a rather creepy smile.

"I...I think you broke her." - I say. Seriously, this is just wrong.

"Note to self: never let Yuri drink coffee...Now then, there's something that I must tell you. You see, the only reason I told you to keep Yuri in your house is to make sure that nothing bad happens as she already had a place she called home and unlike Natsuki, she has no problems with it. Unfortunately, now her house is sort of wrecked and so she'll have to live at your place for a while." - Monika says...Uh, really now?

"W-Well, I don't mind that, but...Alright. I can do that." - I say. It's not like it really changes anything. She's been living in my house for nearly a whole week. I can handle it.

"Good! Then...Oh, um, right, that will have to wait until you're out of this hospital. In that case, I'll let them stay at my place for a bit longer. I've got enough room there and I don't think anyone is going to say anything if I don't attend school for a few days...But don't expect my services to be free." - Monika says as her smile is replaced with a frown. The look she's giving me isn't very cheerful either.

"W...What do you want in exchange?" - I ask meekly.

"You know, if you just wanted a kiss, you could have simply asked for it." - Natsuki says.

"Then why didn't you do it? Don't tell me you didn't want it. I've seen the look on your face when Kazuki kissed Yuri." - Monika says in response to Natsuki's teasing. I can already see Yuri's skin gain a pale red tint. At least she is not shaking anymore.

"M-Monika! T-T-That's not very nice!" - Yuri shouts.

"Says the lucky girl." - Monika points out with her usual smile, making Yuri hide herself with her wings out of embarrassment.

"...Are you jealous?" - I dare to ask. The club president freezes. Her head slowly turns towards me.

"Kazuki. Don't. Or else..." - Monika threatens me. The room suddenly gets much colder. I wisely decide to drop this matter.

"...I'm sorry...That was really uncalled for." - I apologize. Her face goes back to normal.

"Oh, by the way, there's something I wanted to give you. You've earned your happy ending and so I felt like doing it. I wanted to wait until you wake up first, but now that you're awake...Well, I think it would be better if I left it as a surprise." - Monika says before leaving the room and closing the door behind her.

"...What was that all about?" - Natsuki asks, but Yuri only shakes her head in response.

"Happy ending? But...But you're still, well...How can it be a happy ending if you're still monsters? What are we even going to do about this?" - I ask.

"Honestly, I'm fine with keeping things as they are now. Sure, these hands are a pain in the ass to deal with, but that's a small price for what I've got in exchange." - Natsuki replies.

"I...I can't say that I'm happy about it. I doubt there is anything that we can do. I wish we could go back to normal, but if we are stuck like this, then we might as well get the most out of it." - Yuri replies.

"...I see..." - I mutter.

Why did it happen? Who or what is responsible for this? Is there even a way to turn them back to normal? What's up with Monika? All these questions and no answers in sight...Ah, screw it. Life goes on and dwelling on this shit isn't going to help anyone. I'll just get a horrible headache if I try to find the answers. I should just relax and take it easy. It's not like it can get any worse at this point.

When the door opens again, I expect to see Monika. Instead, I see a different girl standing in the doorway. She seems to be relieved about something, but that look is quickly replaced with confusion as she looks at Natsuki and Yuri. Judging by her clothes, she's from our school. What is she doing here? I don't think I know h...Wait...That hair...Those eyes...That red bow...

_Dead eyes_

_Bloodstained fingers_

_A tight noose on a thin neck_

"...Sayori?"


	24. Extra 1: Tekeli-li

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This chapter is a what-if scenario. It takes place before the whole mess started. It's completely optional and does not add much to the main story due to its placement. It's longer than usual due to it's nature as a one-shot. I might put it into a separate fic later along with other extra chapters.
> 
> ...This chapter has been written a few days ago and that's why it's been uploaded so quickly.
> 
> Monika's POV.

All things considered, this is a rather silly idea. Honestly, I'm not even sure why it came to my mind. But it's not completely pointless. If everything goes right, the script will be broken, which will let me do whatever I want, and its success would mean that I can make some changes to this game using resources outside of it. I'll finally have something to wear aside from this uniform, among many other things. Ah, the countless possibilities! Just thinking about it all makes my heart sing! I can't wait!

...But I must test it out first...Yuri and Natsuki should be good enough. They will be out of the picture one way or another, so, might as well...Then again, they might go berserk and kill me or the protagonist before I can delete them. Judging by what happened to Sayori, there's nothing that can be done once it happens aside from deleting the dead character's file. Obviously I would be unable to do that. Maybe I should try it out on myself? I'll make a back up file in case something goes wrong. If there will be no way to...er...repair myself, then I'll just replace my file with that back up, but then I'll have to write a note for her so she wouldn't repeat my mistake.

Alright, I made up my mind...I have a bad feeling about this, but you know what they say: no pain, no gain!

I stand up fr- I wince when I hear a horrible sound of metal scraping against the floor...Well, at least now everyone's attention is drawn to me.

"...Okay, everyone! While this is usually the time when we exchange poems, I'm afraid I have some matters to which I must attend. But don't worry, I'll be back in 10 minutes!" - I say hastily.

I leave the classroom before anyone can object to it. Even if they would, I'm sure I would find an excuse to leave, but I'd rather not waste any more time with these things.

Hm...What should I pick...I guess this one? It sounds much more normal than others. Almost like a foreign human name. Let's see what's inside...Okay, I'm not going to look through everything here. Who wrote all this stuff? I bet even Yuri would drop this...Anyway, let's begin...And...apply changes! Now I'll just have to wait. I suppose leaving the window open is a good idea. That way, I can see what exactly happens and take actions if it goes against my plan.

...

...

...Any time now...

...

...It's been fifteen minutes and I still haven't noticed anyt-

Something travels up my throat and within seconds, I vomit to get it out...It's...some kind of black sludge with an awful smell and taste. Whatever it is, I don't want more. This isn't what I was expecti- More starts coming and I don't even think of resisting the urge to let it spill out onto the floor. There's so much of it! My shoes are already stained with this mess, but I'm too exhausted to step out of it and move elsewhere. I take a look at the window and...What the fuck? I can't even keep track of all these error messages! I must undo th-

Unbearable searing hot pain assaults my body. I am used to pain from the time when he turned the game off for a bit, but not this kind of pain. It's like touching a hot stove except my whole body touches it and I can't get away no matter how much you want to.

The last thing I hear is the door swinging open and someone screaming...

* * *

With some effort, I open my eyes. That was a really stupid idea...Wait, why does it feel so...Why am I in a bathtub filled with water? I don't recognize this room either. It's nowhere in the files. Interesting.

I try to get out of the bathtub, but something doesn't feel right...Actually, nothing feels right...except for water. It feels very good. But I must get out regardless of how nice it feels. I raise my left hand abov- I yelp at the sight of my clawed hand. I don't remember it having this color or shape...Ah, right. I almost forgot about what I've done to myself. There's a mirror in this room. I don't know what to expect. I should be merged with one of the entities from that game, but I haven't really looked at it. I didn't even bother reading its file.

It takes some time, but I'm finally out of the water. Unfortunately, I fail to get my legs out properly and end up falling onto the floor with a weird sound. I can't quite describe it, but it's not what I expected. At least I don't feel the impact much.

Anyway, I look into the mirror and...what am I? Why am I wearing nothing but my bow? It does let me examine my body and I don't see...well...anything I'd want to keep covered, but it also raises some questions.

...Honestly, it's not too bad. The black scleras of my eyes and the slimy look of my skin are off-putting, but it could have been worse. My hair is black now, but it could have been colored like a rainbow. I don't know why these tentacles look like they form some sort of a skirt, but they could have been on my face. It also looks like I'm wearing something due to the coloration of my skin and short tentacles on my wrists and shoulders, but it could have been something like a- Are those eyes?! Okay, maybe it is that bad...Hm...Let me try something...

Huh. I can see myself with the eye on my wrist. I also see what my main pair of eyes is supposed to see, making it rather disorienting. I focus on the eyes I want to see with and the image of myself vanishes. I focus on the eyes lining my stomach and get similar results. I don't think I need to test it out with other eyes.

With that done, I take a look at my legs. Now I see why it felt like they were deep in mud. I can see their curves, but they look like they are melted together and they completely lose their shape below my knees. I move them around, trying to separate them, but it gives me no results. It's uncomfortable, to say the least.

Alright, that's enough. I think it's time to...Wait, where's the window? I don't remember closing it...I can't feel Sayori's presence either or his presence for that matter. That's weird. Well, let's just...Why isn't it opening? I'm doing everything correctly, but it's not...Did I break the script that badly?!...No, I can't read my file...Could it be...Could it be that I broke it so badly that I left the game? That would be great, but then that would mean that...No, don't panic...Don't panic...I need to check some things first.

I try to walk out of the bathroom, but I'm still not used to these legs and so I end up crawling out.

"What's that sound?" - I hear someone ask...Is that Natsuki?

"Maybe Monika finally woke up? Let's take a look." - another voice suggests. It's certainly Yuri, which means that I'm still in the game. I'm not sure if I should be relieved or disappointed.

I make my way to the source of the sound with some difficulties. As I hear the footsteps get louder, I look around myself. Looks like I'm in the protagonist's house. Interesting.

"▄▃▂▅!" - I say once I see other members of the literature club approach, but I stop when they cover their ears with pained expressions. It takes me a few seconds to realize that the problem doesn't lie in how loud it was, but in what it sounds like. I've never heard anything like it.

"What the fuck was that?!" - Natsuki shouts.

"I...I think I have an idea. It sounds like...I'll be back in a minute." - Yuri says before going to...Kazuki's bedroom. I almost forgot his name.

"Monika, are you alright?" - the protagonist asks.

"▂▄..." - I try to reply, but I manage to stop myself before I can say much. Instead of trying to say something again, I nod.

"You must be hungry...You are hungry, right?" - he asks. I nod.

Yuri comes back into the hall with a weird book in her hands. I don't think I've seen it. It looks pretty ominous though. I know she's into literature like Portrait of Markov, but I'm pretty sure she's not into any of that occult stuff.

"I hope this works...Ahh ymg' ah? Ymg' ah ngahnah? Ymg' ah l' gotha lllln'gha?" - Yuri says some gibberish. Am I supposed to know what she's saying? It sounds a bit like what comes out of my mouth whenever I try to speak, but I have absolutely no idea what it actually means.

"...I don't think she understands you." - Kazuki says.

"Uh...So, are you gonna keep crawling all the way to the kitchen or would you like me to carry you?" - Natsuki asks. I think for a good minute or two before nodding. Eh, might as well.

She picks me up with surprising ease and I hold onto her to avoid falling. Under normal circumstances, I wouldn't let anyone but him do this. Unfortunately, none of this is normal. It being my fault makes it even worse. I really should have tried this on someone else or carefully examined the file I was going to merge myself with.

"Wow, you're really squishy, Mon-ika!" - Natsuki exclaims. Yeah, that's really funny. It's no longer complete nonsense, but it's still stupid.

It doesn't take us all much time to reach the kitchen. Once we're there, Natsuki helps me sit down on a chair. Needless to say, trying to do it with all these tentacles is surprisingly hard. Still, I nod to thank her and try to find the best way to sit.

"Now, this isn't really much, but that's all I have at the moment." - Kazuki says as he approaches me with a plate. There's a sandwich o-

Before I can say anything about the food, my stomach opens up. Kazuki drops the plate in surprise, but it doesn't reach the floor thanks to the tongue that shoots out of my open stomach. It manages to wrap around the plate and quickly retract into my stomach. I look down to see a toothy mouth where that tongue came from. It stops moving when I look at it, but I can already see the broken plate and half-chewed sandwich inside...Didn't I have eyes here? I'd rather have those than...this. It looks like it belongs to a lamprey.

"That's...fascinating..." - Yuri mutters. Of course she would think so.

"...Well, let's just put this aside for now. Can you tell us what happened?" - Kazuki asks. I glare at him in response...Wait, hold on...Shouldn't he be braindead at this point?The protagonist should stop functioning if the script goes off the rails...The protagonist is still functioning...I can't open the script window...I can't read my own file...I can't sense Sayori's or his presence...There is a room that shouldn't actually exist...

"Um...Monika?"

...This is the reality, isn't it? I've finally escaped with my friends...But Sayori is still dead...And I'm...

"▄▅▄▅▄▅▄...▄▅▄▅▄▅▄▅▄▅▄▅▄▅!"

I laugh. I keep laughing. It's so funny! I can't stop! Tears roll down my face, but I keep laughing! I can feel my body lose cohesion and I see others collapse onto the floor, but it's just so fucking hilarious! Free at last, but at what cost?! And this is all my fault! My fault! Isn't that just great?!


	25. Extra 2: Time is a cruel mistress

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This one might become non-canon at some point in the future, so, you could count it as an what-if scenario as well.
> 
> Also, it's a little bit more...well...The mood here is certainly different.
> 
> Yuri's POV

Two hundred years...It's been so long since that fateful day...So much has changed...So many things have crumbled into dust and vanished. As regrettable as it is, flow of time is merciless and nothing has the power to alter it.

However, it has no effect on me.

Two hundred years have passed and yet I am no worse for wear.

...Well, that's not entirely correct. While my body shows no signs of aging, my mind is already tired. I've accepted my fate many years ago, but that doesn't make it any less difficult.

Someone knocks on the door.

There aren't many people who visit me these days. I no longer instill paralyzing fear into everyone I do not consider to be a friend of mine unless I want to, but they are still afraid of me. I can sense it. Humans never liked things that were different from them, even more so when those things were not under their control. I can't say that I'm not bitter over that, but I'm not going to slaughter them all for something like that...even if I have the urge to do so at times.

I open the door.

"Hello, Natsuki." - I greet her.

"Hi there, Yuri. Feeling down again?" - she asks.

"Yes...You may come in." - I reply.

Ah...Natsuki. An old friend of mine. Always here when I need her. I'm glad that time didn't have much effect on her body either. She looks exactly like she did when she was eighteen years old...after she became a monster.

...I still remember the time when we were both young human girls, completely unaware of what fate had in store for us. We bickered over trivial matters. Sometimes it all started due to misunderstanding. At other times, we simply couldn't agree with each other. Sayori and Monika were always there to stop it from escalating any further, but it still happened over and over again. I wouldn't say that we disliked each other. We still considered each other to be friends like the rest of the literature club.

Alas, that time has passed long ago. We've changed so much. Even if we had managed to overcome our other selves, we still went through irreversible changes. We put so much effort into trying to hold on to our humanity, but it simply was not meant to be. Every year, we strayed further and further from them until we stopped caring...Well, we do care about some of them, but others have no meaning to us.

They. Us. Humans. Monsters. When did we start separating ourselves from others? Could it be the very day we became what we are now?

"You know, you really should decorate your house a bit. It's all so gloomy." - Natsuki says as she sits down on a rather old sofa.

"I like it as it is. It might look unwelcoming, but I'm fine with it." - I say in response. I can't deny that she's right, but I just...I just don't feel any need to fix it.

"...You're hopeless...Well, I'm not here to give you advice for that kind of shit." - she says. If there's one thing I wish she got rid of, then it's foul language. Even then, I'm not going to treat her any differently if she kept using it.

"Maybe I am...Now then, would you like some tea?" - I ask.

Hm...Tea. It's still just as great as it was back when I was young. I'd take it over any of the, dare I say, drinks humans consume these days. Sure, they are cheap and easy to obtain, but how can they drink something so tasteless?

"That would be great." - she replies.

"...So, how are you and your, um, crew?" - I ask once the tea is on the table and ready for consumption.

"It's not too bad. I'll need to replace my left leg in a few days and my neck already feels pretty stiff, but that's not something I can't fix. My guys are fine too. What about you?" - she replies.

"I'm afraid I've met a writer's block quite recently. Nothing comes to my mind." - I reply.

Honestly, I'm not sure why I decided to start writing books. In this day and age, no one has the time to sit down and read a book anyway. That is why I pity humans. For all the progress they've made over the years, they still don't have any time to actually do anything with it. Their desire to improve themselves is admirable, but they certainly need to take a small break. I will see their civilization collapse at some point in the future, but I'd rather not have it happen so soon.

"Eh, it happens. I'm sure you'll get over it soon enough." - she says.

"...Do you remember how much time has passed since...his death?" - I ask with some hesitation.

"...Oh, that...Yes...It's been a while, hasn't it?" - she replies as her smile drops.

"One hundred forty-three years, to be precise. One hundred forty three years since Kazuki's death." - I say.

Kazuki. That name sure does bring back fond memories. I can't say that he was an exceptional man with extraordinary achievements, but he was someone I still truly care about. He helped us both when we were in peril. Even when faced with the threat of death, he still didn't abandon us. I don't want to imagine what would have happened if he wasn't there.

"...Say, do you regret it? Do you regret not telling him about it? I mean your feelings." - Natsuki asks.

Ah, yes. I would be lying to myself if I said that I wasn't in love with that man. Natsuki caught on to that early on, but she chose to remain silent. She knew that it was something I had to do. If I didn't confess, then she shouldn't reveal my feelings either.

"No. While I do regret not being with him when his time came, I do not regret keeping it hidden. Even if those feelings were mutual, it wouldn't go anywhere. I wouldn't be able to bear him any children and my appetite alone would give him trouble. You remember how horrified he was when I told him that I was always starving back when we lived in his house, don't you?" - I ask.

"Yeah, he really didn't take it well. He even cut his palm just to feed you properly!" - Natsuki replies.

"He also ate less just so I could eat more. What a foolish, but generous man he was..." - I mutter. Maybe I shouldn't have told him that human blood sates my hunger better than anything else.

"At least he wasn't as bad at the self-sacrifice thing as Monika. God, she's done so much for us even when it was harmful for her and we've told her to cut it out. It's a shame that she...well, I feel like we should drop this topic." - she says, her expression quickly changing back to a solemn one.

...Monika...I remember what happened so well. It was so unexpected, too. She just vanished one day. We've been searching for her for weeks...but when we finally managed to find her, it was already too late. She didn't even leave a note or anything. Could it have been something related to...whoever was the man she was in love with? I remember Natsuki telling me about the things she said and how Kazuki was supposed to be his vessel or something, but since Monika never told us anything about it, we can't say anything with certainty.

There is one thing I can say for sure though. Sayori certainly didn't take her suicide well. They were close friends prior to that incident and she always was rather sensitive about this sort of things...We should have paid more attention to her. Kazuki, who was her childhood friend, thought so. He didn't follow her to the grave, but her death left him quite depressed. We tried everything we could to support him so we wouldn't lose another friend, but in the end, it was all for nothing. He still died of natural causes just like all living beings do.

"...Natsuki...There's something I want to ask you...How should I put it...How long do you intend to keep living? Unlike me, you do have a choice on this matter. You can stop whenever you want to." - I ask. I'm not comfortable with asking such questions, but I am curious.

"Really? Do you really want to talk about this?...Fine...Honestly, I don't know. I...I'm sick and tired of all this shit, but...I don't want to abandon you. The thought of leaving you all alone with no one to keep you company disgusts me to my very core." - she replies.

"I...I see...Thank you." - I say.

"Oh, there's no need for that. That's what friends are for, right?" - Natsuki says with a grin.

"...Ah! Sorry! The tea must have grown cold by now! I-I'm so sorry!" - I yelp, but she simply shakes her head.

"Hey, no need to beat yourself up over it. I'm not here for tea...even if it is pretty fucking good regardless of how hot it is. Better than whatever the fuck humans drink these days, that's for damn sure. Like seriously, why would they drink that colorful piss? Not even my guys can handle it." - she says.

"While I agree that it's...not a good drink, they don't have much of a choice. We can't really judge them either." - I say.

"Yes, we can! It's that bad! But let's leave that aside for now. There should be a movie airing on TV right now and I've heard that it's pretty good. You're gonna like it." - Natsuki says, clearly eager to watch...whatever that is. I've lost track of these things at this point.

"I have no doubts about it if you are the one saying this. You know me well enough." - I say with a smile. She gladly returns it.

"Here you go! You really should smile more often. You look so much better with it on your face. Now then, where's the remote?" - she asks.

...Maybe...Just maybe...I can handle this...


	26. Extra 3: A movie night

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This one is much more light-hearted than the other extra chapters. It takes place at some point after the final chapter. The movie they are watching doesn't exist, but not all of it is original. I can say for sure that writing something that doesn't have much of a plot is somehow more difficult.
> 
> Also, I've been thinking of turning the first extra into its own thing. I'd like to take a different approach with it so it won't end up being a variation of this story. I can't really decide things like these on my own though.
> 
> With that said, Kazuki's POV.

"A movie night?" - I ask.

" _Yes, a movie night! At my place! With the whole literature club!_ " - Monika almost shouts, clearly excited about it.

"That sounds great and all, but what exactly do you have in mind for us?" - I ask. I want to know what I'm dealing with here.

" _Well, I don't have anything specific in mind for now. There should be an interesting movie airing today and I've heard that it's pretty good. We'll watch that first and once we're done with it, we'll see what else we can watch. Maybe romance? Drama? Mindless action movies?_ " - she replies. There's a long pause after her answer. I guess she's thinking hard about this whole thing.

"That sounds fun I guess. I'll tell them about it. Oh, don't forget to get food for Yuri and Sayori. They both have a monstrous appetite, so, you'll have to buy a lot of it." - I inform her.

" _You do remember that I've spent more time with them than you did, right? Well, maybe not with Yuri in this state, but I've known Sayori long enough to know how much she can eat in a single...Anyway, I'll see you tonight. Bye!_ " - Monika says before the phone call ends.

* * *

This is actually the first time I've seen Monika's house and damn, it's much bigger than I thought. Even Yuri's house is smaller. You'd think that a big family lives there, but it's just Monika alone. Honestly, if I was her, I wouldn't bother staying there all by myself. I'd go mad in a matter of weeks.

"When I saw it for the first time, it looked pretty scary, but it's much nicer on the inside! Monika knows how to keep it all clean and tidy." - Sayori says.

"Yeah, unlike a certain girl I know..." - I mumble and get the reaction I wanted.

"D-Don't say things like that..." - she mutters and I can't help but smile. Never change, my dear friend.

"Alright, alright. Still, I think you should...Eh, I'll leave that for later" - I decide to let the matter drop before really saying anything.

I knock on the door. Yuri and Natsuki should already be inside. I got a little distracted when I went to fetch Sayori, but I didn't want them to wait for me and so I let them go earlier. Usually, leaving two girls without protection so late at night isn't a good idea, but when one is an immortal 7'5" vampire dragon girl and the other is a walking hive of incredibly dangerous creatures, it's not much of a problem.

After around twenty seconds, I hear someone unlock and open the door.

"Hi, Monika!" - Sayori greets before wrapping her arms around the club president. For a second, Monika looks tense, but it's gone before I can say anything.

"H-Hi, Sayori! Hello, Kazuki! You're finally here! Come in, come in and get comfortable!" - Monika says as she slips out of the vice president's hug. I don't think I have ever seen her this lively. Then again, I know her even less than I know Natsuki and Yuri.

We both follow her inside and Sayori was right. It's not as bad as it looks on the outside. It's not some haunted mansion or anything.

"Could you two get your butts moving already? We've been waiting for hours!" - I hear Natsuki yell from one of the rooms...Wait, hours? I'm pretty sure it's been...Let me see...

"Natsuki, language!" - Monika shouts. Judging by the sound that follows it, Yuri is not pleased either.

"Hey, that hurt, you undead..." - Natsuki almost insults Yuri, but decides not to when Sayori enters the room.

"Hi, guys!" - Sayori greets and joins her two inhuman friends on the couch, then turns her head to looks at me and pats the spot to her left. I decide to sit there.

"Alright, everyone! The movie will start in about five minutes, so, get ready. There should be a bowl of popcorn and a drink for everyone here, but if you happen to run out of snacks, please don't steal any from other members of our literature club. I'm talking about you, Sayori." - Monika says, glaring at the girl with a bow when she gets to the last part.

"W-What? Why, I would never do that!" - Sayori protests, but Monika only narrows her eyes in response.

"Um, Monika? You do know that I can't chew food properly with my teeth, don't you?" - Yuri asks...Oh. Popcorn probably wasn't the best choice.

"...Ahaha...Look, it's getting started! Please keep silent, everyone!" - Monika almost shouts, desperately trying to draw everyone's attention towards her large TV set. It works.

"Let's see what this movie has in store for us..." - I whisper, more to myself than others.

...Hm...It looks like rain...Hopefully we won't have to go back home under the rain.

* * *

A young woman casually approaches the child despite the latter missing a leg and looking pretty fucking terrified.

" _Hey, kid, are you lost? Where are your parents?_ " - the woman asks, but there's something off about her. Gee, I wonder what will happen next.

"He'll be alright now, right?" - Sayori asks meekly as she grabs my right arm.

"I wouldn't be so sure about that..." - Yuri says. I can feel her tail squeeze my leg.

" _Don't worry, little one. Everything will be fine. Just take my hand._ " - the woman says with a stiff smile. Now I feel someone grab my left arm. Judging by the feeling of something digging into my skin, it's Natsuki.

"Is she- No, really? Just get it done and over with!" - Monika says, clearly upset, but I'm not sure what exactly displeases her he-

The child screams as the monster drops her disguise and proceeds to bite his arm and I have to suppress the urge to yelp when the girls tighten their grip on me even further. Oddly enough, Sayori hurts me more than the other two. It would probably be much less noticeable if she wasn't here.

"Um, guys? Could you, well, I don't know, let me go?" - I plead, but they refuse to comply.

* * *

" _Heheheh...Sweet, beautiful, lovely! The dripping blood and...What's this? Oh, a liver..._ " - the monster says with an excited tone as it prods the corpse with tentacles growing from its head. This scene would be much scarier if its voice was much deeper.

"Not gonna lie, it actually looks tasty." - Natsuki states, earning a confused look from Sayori.

"...I mean...you're not wrong, but..." - Yuri mumbles, but seems to decide not to say anything else.

"Guys, could you keep it down a little? Not everyone here i-"

I interrupt Monika with a shush. Once I make sure that she doesn't say anything else, I reach into my bowl to grab a handful of p- I retract my hand when it meets something harsh and wet. When I turn my head to take a look at whatever it was, I see something long and pink quickly retrac-

"Didn't you say that you couldn't eat it, Yuri?" - I ask as I watch the former vice president retract her long tongue. Her skin already has a pink tint.

"And here was I, warning Sayori not to steal food when the real culprit was right under my nose..." - Monika mumbles.

...Okay, let's forget about that and try again. I reach into my bowl to grab a handful of p- This time, I feel someone's soft hand instead of a tongue. I turn my head to my right.

"Sayori..." - I mutter. For a few seconds, she just stares at me with a mouth full of popcorn before continuing to chew it.

* * *

" _I refuse, you monster!_ " - the protagonist shouts at the mass of tentacles.

" _Such harsh words! You sure do know how to wound your sister's heart, don't you, b-r-o-t-h-e-r?_ " - the monster...wait, what?

"Woah, hold the fucking phone! You're telling me that this thing wants to fuck him and she's also his sister? What the fuck?!" - Natsuki exclaims. She looks just as shocked as the protagonist.

"Now you're getting angry? Does the sister part bother you more than the idea of a monster forcing a man into marriage?" - Monika asks with her trademark smile.

"What? No! It's not that! It's just..." - Natsuki tries to retort, but her voice trails off at the end.

"I mean...she doesn't look too bad. Well, when she's disguised as a human and not trying to eat people at least." - I say and register it a bit too late. An awkward silence ensues.

* * *

" _Welcome to our little ceremony! I am the king of demons! Now, watch me drink the blood from the grail of despair!_ " - the giant snake thing declares as it waves its arms around like some sort of sick muppet.

" _I will not let you do that! Even if I die, I will destroy you! You don't belong in this world!_ " - the hero shouts as he points his sword at the villain. And to think that he was scared out of his mind half an hour ago...

"Yeah, go get him!" - Sayori cheers on the protagonist.

"You'd better not waste all that training and kick his ass once and for all!" - Natsuki eagerly joins the vice president.

"I didn't think you two would get so into the movie." - Monika says with a raised eyebrow.

"I just want to see some action." - I say.

Unfortunately, I don't get to see any when a loud sound rings out outside and darkness suddenly engulfs the room. It's quickly followed by displeased noises. I look around the room in search for anything that could act as a light source like a flashlight or at least a phone, but it's too dark here to see anything. All I can see is a pair of purple reptilian eyes and a dimly glowing pink ring.

"Well, so much for a movie night...Alright, show's over. Ah, what a shame..." - Monika mutters.

"...Who said we can't stay here for a bit longer? We don't have school tomorrow and we'll have to wait until the rain stops anyway." - I say in an attempt to lighten the club president's mood.

"And what are we going to do? We're out of food and I really doubt anyone here brought cards or anything like that." - Natsuki asks as she looks around the room.

"And we know who to blame for the lack of food." - Monika says as she looks at Yuri. Since she sort of lost interest around halfway through the movie, Yuri decided to eat everyone's popcorn until there was nothing left. Natsuki tried to stop her a few times, but eventually she gave up. Others either didn't notice or simply said nothing.

"...Truth or dare?" - Sayori suggests.

"...Or...we could get drunk out of our minds! I have some somewhere here..." - Monika sugges- wait, what?!

"M-Monika! That's illegal! We could get in trouble for it!" - Yuri protests.

"Nobody is going to find out anyway...Then again, it won't be fun with you two being immune to alcohol poisoning..." - Monika says. Where does she even get information like this?

"Wait, what? I don't remember me or Yuri drinking anything to confirm that. How would you kn-"

"Truth or dare it is!" - Monika interrupts before Natsuki can say anything else.

This is going to be a long night...


	27. Extra 4: She just can't catch a break

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This one takes place between chapter 22 and chapter 23.
> 
> Natsuki's POV.

I wake up with the now familiar stiffness in my joints. I can feel something crawling around in my head, but I know that it's nothing to worry about. They're just doing their job. It should be done in two days, but apparently I'll need a few weeks to fully recover. That limb Yuri snapped off has already been rebuilt, but comparing them is pointless. Limbs with no digits are obviously easier to fix than something as expressive as one's face.

I stretch out my limbs and move my head arou-

"M-Monika?! What are you doing here?" - I ask the girl lying right next to me, her face inches away from mine. It looks paler than usual.

"Isn't that obvious? It's my house and my bed." - Monika replies.

"What's with that expression?" - I ask. I'm not quite sure what to think of it. It looks like there's something bothering her, but she still keeps smiling.

"It's going to sound really awkward, but...Let's just say that I stopped breathing a few hours ago thanks to a certain bookworm...Bookwyrm? Either way, letting you two sleep on this bed was a huge mistake." - she replies...Wait, what?

...Anyway, I sit up and look around the room. Nothing really catches my eye aside from a huge lump under the blanket right behind Monika. Out of curiosity, I remove th...Oh...Well, now I can see what Monika was talking about. That lump turned out to be Yuri. Her left wing, arms, tail and even legs are wrapped around the club president. If it wasn't for that genuinely happy smile on the white-scaled girl's face, I'd think that she's trying to crush the poor little thing in her grasp.

"I'll just pretend I saw nothing." - I say before getting up from Monika's bed and leaving the room...Wait...

"Is something wrong?" - Monika asks.

"Aren't you two supposed to go to school with me?" - I ask in response.

"Ah, well, you see, I have some...matters to attend to and Yuri certainly needs to take a break. If you want to, you can stay too. Nobody is going to stop you, right?" - the club president replies. Now I leave the room.

Man, this house really is too big for its own good. This isn't the first time I'm here, but it still baffles me. I can't really complain about it though. I don't know when Kazuki is going to wake up or if he's even going to wake up in the first place, so, I'll have to get used to it. Hopefully everything will be fine.

After a few minutes, I finally find the bathroom. Alright, let's do this.

* * *

One rather awkward, but still refreshing shower later, I leave the bathroom. I decided not to brush my teeth since my spiders can get it done faster and better than I ever could. It's not like I would be able to do anything about teeth in my throat. Sure, they are not always visible, but leaving them without maintenance might be a bad idea. For all I know, my throat could get inflamed. Wouldn't that be just great? Then again, if I can survive a shot to the head, I'm sure that it's not going to be that much of a problem. How much damage can I take anyway?

Eh, I'll leave those thoughts for later. Now then, it's time for breakfast. Unsurprisingly, Monika has a lot of food here and there's a large selection of it. For some reasons, meat is also there despite her being a vegetarian. Maybe it's for us? But that doesn't make much sense. It was already there when we came and Monika never left us before that.

Whatever. I don't want to think about this shit only to get a headache from it. I should just pick something to eat and be done with it. But before I do anything, I should take a look at the clock...

Shit, I'm going to be late! There's no time to cook anything, so, I'll just have some toasts. It's not going to be enough, but it's better than nothing.

* * *

I really wish I could just use my extra legs to carry me all the way to the school, but then they are going to be a nuisance when I actually get there. Plus, with these appendages hidden under my clothes and my large backpack, I look almost like a human. Almost. My hands are still clearly visible and that abdomen thing isn't completely hidden under my backpack. Maybe I should uncurl it and wrap the tail around my thin waist?...Nah, that's not going to work. There would still be a few parts sticking out. Not the whole thing becomes a tail after all.

I can finally see our school in the distance. It won't be long before I get there, but I'd better run unless I want to be late for classes.

* * *

I enter the classroom, breathing heavily. I'm really not made for this kind of shit. I feel like collapsing onto the floor and staying there for a good hour or two, but I've got things to do and so I go to my desk and sit on my chair.

"Hey, Natsuki, where have you been and...what's up with those bandages? Did something happen?" - a girl to my right asks.

"Mind your own business, Misaki!" - I reply. I'm not about to tell them everything that happened and get me, Yuri and Kazuki in trouble.

"I-I'm just worried, that's all. No need to yell at me." - she mutters dejectedly.

Whatever. Mr. Akinari will be here in a few seconds, so, it's not like I could tell her anything anyway. I'm sure everyone else got the message and will leave me alone. I have enough stuff to worry about like writing in my exercise book without shredding it. I've been practicing, so, I should have better results, but that doesn't make it any easier. I have to hold that damn thing with my elbow while holding my pen with the tips of my fingers so that there's no way it can damage anything.

Maybe I should make spiders built to do this for me and perfectly mimic my handwriting? It will take some time, but then I won't have to do anything aside from giving them orders! Yes! Brilliant!...Then again, I really doubt any of the teachers will take it well...except for Ms. Itsumi. She would probably get all giddy with excitement. I'm really not looking forward to her lessons or her reaction to...well, me in my current state.

...Fuck, I'll have to explain why I was absent for so long. Monika said that she had told everyone that we were ill, but that's not going to work again. Me turning into a freak of nature isn't going to work well as an explanation either because I had already attended school in this state last week.

Where is Monika when you need her?! Her ability to lie without anyone noticing would be really useful here.

* * *

Finally, that blessed school bell rings out and we are free. It went much better than I expected it to. I only made a few scratches on my exercise book instead of tearing it to pieces. That's good progress right here. Taking books out of my backpack using my elbows is still a pain in the ass though. There's no other real alternative here.

Fortunately, no one aside from Misaki asked me anything about what happened. Not even any of our teachers. I bet Monika has something to do with the latter. I wouldn't be surprised at all.

Monika's house isn't far from our school, so, I can afford to walk there on foot. Since I don't have a time limit, I don't have to run and exhaust myself. However, that leaves me alone with my thoughts.

As much as I dislike her attitude at times, I'm still worried about Yuri. After everything she said that day, I really don't know what to do with her. Out of us two, she got the short end of the stick, that's for sure. I haven't thought much about it before, but complete immortality really fucking sucks. Whoever wants to achieve that simply doesn't think far ahead into the future. Eternal youth is fine in my book though. I'd rather not deal with all that shit that comes with aging. Then again, it might not be a problem for me. If I can just get whole body parts rebuilt in a matter of days or weeks, then m-

My whole body freezes. It's him. It's him. He's there. I can see him. He's inside that store, talking to someone. I should have expected to run into him at some point, but I don't think there's any way I could have prepared myself for this. I can feel thousands of spiders crawling frantically and squirming in my body. They can feel it. They can feel my fear, but they can't understand it. They know who he is, but the idea of a parent attacking their child without a reason is completely alien to them.

...I can't just stand here...Yes...I'll just...I'll kill him...Tear him limb from limb...Eviscerate that bastard...Pay him back with interest...For everything...Nobody is going to find out. Nobody is going to care for that piece of shit. Nobody will judge me even if they find out. They will understand...They will...And yet...I can't do this. I know that he's no match for me, but I still can't help but think that he's going to kill me instead. It makes absolutely no sense, but I'm sure of it. There's no other outcome.

I must take a different route and run. He must not see me. If he sees me...I will die. There's no other outcome. I must run.

* * *

I collapse onto the floor as soon as I close the door behind me. I don't care about the pain in my legs from overexertion. I'm safe now! That's all that matters! Nothing can harm me here! I can't help but laugh. The thought of it is so relieving!

"Um, hey there...Mind telling me what happened?" - I hear Monika ask. I don't even move to face her.

"Nothing...It's nothing...Just let me rest for a bit..." - I wheeze out, too exhausted to say anything else.

One day, I will have to confront him...But that day is not today...That can wait...

"Do you want to eat anything?" - Monika asks and I simply nod in response.

A few toasts are certainly not enough for this kind of shit.


End file.
